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Kialto Series, No. IS. Sept., '92. Monthlj'. Sub., $,S.OO. Entered as second-class matter at th» Post Office, Chicajro. 

* 



n 



hristopher (^olumbus 



AND HIS MONUMENT, 



Columbia. 







¥-■• *► BY 

J. M. DICKEY. 



/s ,1 ^ I 



Rand, McNally & Company, Chicago and New York. 



CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS 

AND HIS MONUMENT 

COLUMBIA. 




COLUMBUS MONUMENT, PIAZZA ACQUAVERDE, GENOA, ITALY. 

Sculptor, Signor Lanzio. Dedicated 1862. 

(See page 141 . i 



04^ / 



Christopher Columbus 



AND HIS MONUMENT 



COLUMBIA 



A Concordance of Choice Tributes to the Great 

Genoese, His Grand Discovery, and His 

Greatness of Mind and Purpose. 



THE TESTIMONY OF ANCIENT AUTHORS, 
THE TRIBUTES OF MODERN MEN. 



ADORNED WITH THE SCULPTURES, SCENES, AND PORTRAITS OF THE 
OLD WORLD AND THE NEW. 



Compiled by J. M. Dickey. 



chicago and new york: 

Rand, McNally &. Company, Publishers. 

1892. 









Copyright, 18(^2, by Rand, McNally & Co. 



PREFACE. 



History places in prominence Columbus and America. 
They are the brightest jewels in her crown. Columbus is a 
permanent orb in the progress of civilization. From the 
highest rung of the ladder of fame, he has stepped to the 
skies. America *' still hangs blossoming in the garden of 
time, while her penetrating perfume floats all round the 
world, and intoxicates all other nations with the hope of 
liberty." If possible, these tributes would add somewhat 
to the luster of fame which already encircles the Nation and 
the Man. Many voices here speak for themselves. 

Six hundred authors and more have written of Columbus 
or his great discovery. An endless task therefore would 
it be to attempt to enumerate, much less set out, the thou- 
sands who have incidtntally, and even encomiastically, 
referred to him. Equally impossible would it be to hope 
to include a tithe of their utterances within the limits 
of any single volume, even were it of colossal proportions. 
This volume of tributes essays then to be but a concord- 
ance of some of the most choice and interesting extracts, 
and, artistically illustrated with statues, scenes, and inscrip- 
tions, is issued at an appropriate time and place. The 
compiler desires in this preface to acknowledge his sincere 
obligations and indebtedness to the many authors and pub- 
lishers who so courteously and uniformly extended their 
consents to use copyright matter, and to express an equal 
sense of gratitude to his friend, Stuart C. Wade, for his 
valuable assistance in selecting, arranging, and indexing 
much of the matter herein contained. 

(5) 



6 PREFACE. 

In one of the galleries of Florence there is a remarkable 
bust of Brutus, left unfinished by the great sculptor Michael 
Angelo. Some writer explained the incomplete condition 
by indicating that the artist abandoned his labor in despair, 
"overcome by the grandeur of the subject." With similar 
feeling, this little book is submitted to the admirers of 
Columbus and Columbia, wherever they may be found. 

J. M. D. 

Colorado Springs, Colo., July, 1892. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



Page 

Preface, -..-.-. ^ 

Table of Contents, 7 

List of Illustrations, ----- ^ 

Life of Columbus, ------ i j-^o 

Selected letters of Columbus, - - - 41-57 

Tributes to Columbus, ----- 61-323 

Tributes to Columbia, - . - - 327-384 

Index of Authors — Columbus, - - - 385-388 

Index of Authors — Columbia, - - 389-390 

Index of Head Lines, ----- 391-396 

Index of Statuary and Inscriptions, - - 397 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 



V The Columbus Statue, Genoa, - - - Frontispiece 

>^ Columbus at Salamanca, - - - - - 17 

vj The De Bry Portrait, 24 

4The Embarkation at Palos, ----- 32 

n/ Columbus in Chains, ------ ^q 

^ Fac-simile of Columbus' letter to the Bank of St. 

George, Genoa, ------ ^2 

^ Columbus Statue, on Barcelona Monument, - 64 

A Columbus Monument, Barcelona, - - - - 81 

-^ The Paseo Colon, Barcelona, . - - . ^5 

~^ Columbus Statue, City of Colon, - - - - 113 

■~ Zearing's Head of Columbus, - . . - 120 

-^Park's Statue of Columbus, Chicago, - - - 128 

■^ House of Columbus, Genoa, - . - - 14^ 

■i The Antonio Moro Portrait, ----- 160 

-iToscanelli's Map, - - - - - ' - 177 

' Samartin's Statue of Columbus, Madrid, - - 192 

^ Suiiol's Statue of Columbus, Madrid, - - - 209 

■^ Map of Herrera (Columbus' Historian), - - - 224 

^ Modern Map of the Bahamas, - - . - 241 

^'Map of Columbus' Pilot, ----- 256 

^Columbus Monument, Mexico, - - - - 273 

-J Columbus Monument, New York Cit)', - - - 288 

^'^ Bas-relief, New York Monument, - - - 296 

-- Bas-relief, New York Monument, - - - 305 

-^ Genius of Geography, New York Statue, - - 312 

\ Eagle, New York Statue, - - . . . ^20 

(9) 



10 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 

^ Part of Columbus Statue, New York City, - - 328 

-' The Convent of Santa Maria cle la R^bida, - - 337 

The Santa Maria Caravel, - - - - - 352 

-.The Columbus Fleet, ------ 360 

Vanderlvn's Picture of the Landing of Columbus, 369 

\ Columbus Monument, Watling's Island, - - 384 




Columbus and His Monument 
Columbia. 



THE LIFE OF COLUMBUS. 



Christopher Columbus, the eldest son of Dominico 
Colombo and Suzanna Fontanarossa, was born at Genoa 
in 1435 <^^ 1436, the exact date being uncertain. As to his 
birthplace there can be no legitimate doubt; he says him- 
self of Genoa, in his will, " Delia sali y en ella naci ' 
(from there I came, and there was I born), though authori 
ties, authors, and even poets differ. Some, like Tennyson, 

having 

Stay'd the wheels at Cogoletto 

And drank, and loyally drank, to him. 

His father was a wool-comber, of some small means, who was 
living two years after the discovery of the West Indies,' and 
who removed his business from Genoa to Savona in 1469. 
Christopher, the eldest son, was sent to the University of 
Pavia, where he devoted himself to the mathematical and 
natural sciences, and where he probably received instruc- 
tion in nautical astronomy from Antonio da Terzago and 
Stefano di Faenza. On his removal from the university it 
appears that he worked for some months at his father's 
trade; but on reaching his fifteenth year he made his choice 
of life, and became a sailor. 

Of his apprenticeship, and the first years of his career, no 
records exist. The whole of his earlier life, indeed, is dubi- 
ous and conjectural, founded as it is on the half-dozen dark 

(11) 



13 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

and evasive chapters devoted by Hernando, his son and 
biographer, to the first half-centur}' of his father's times. 
It seems certain, however, that these unknown years were 
stormy, laborious, and eventful; "wherever ship has 
sailed," he writes, "there have I journeyed." He is 
known, among other places, to have visited England, "Ul- 
tima Thule " (Iceland), the Guinea Coast, and the Greek 
Isles; and he appears to have been some time in the service 
of Rene of Provence, for whom he is recorded to have 
intercepted and seized a Venetian galley with great bravery 
and audacity. According to his son, too, he sailed with 
Colombo el Mozo, a bold sea captain and privateer; and a 
sea fight under this commander was the means of bringing 
him ashore in Portugal. Meanwhile, however, he was pre- 
paring himself for greater achievements by reading and 
meditating on the works of Ptolemy and Marinus, of Near- 
chus and Pliny, the Cosmographia of Cardinal Aliaco, the 
travels of Marco Polo and Mandeville. He mastered all 
the sciences essential to his calling, learned to draw charts 
and construct spheres, and thus fitted himself to become' a 
consummate practical seaman and navigator. 

In 1470 he arrived at Lisbon, after being wrecked in a 
sea fight that began off Cape St. Vincent, and escaping to 
land on a plank. In Portugal he married Felipa Moniz de 
Perestrello, daughter of Bartollomeu Perestrello, a captain 
in the service of Prince Henry, called the Navigator, one 
of the early colonists and the first governor of Porto Santo, 
an island off Madeira. Columbus visited the island, and 
employed his tim.e in making maps and charts for a liveli- 
hood, while he pored over the logs and papers of his 
deceased father-in-law, and talked with old seamen of their 
voyages and of the mystery of the Western seas. About 
this time, too, he seems to have arrived at the conclusion 
that much of the world remained undiscovered, and step 



THE LIFE OF COLUMBUS. 13 

by step to have conceived tliat desi<^n of reaching Asia by 
sailing west which was to result in the discovery of Amer- 
ica. In 1474 we find him expounding his views to Paolo 
Toscanelli, the Florentine physician and cosmographer, and 
receiving the heartiest encouragement. 

These views he supported with three different arguments, 
derived from natural reasons, from the theories of geog- 
raphers, and from the reports and traditions of mariners. 
" He believed the world to be a sphere," says Helps; " he 
underestimated its size; he overestimated the size of the 
Asiatic continent. The farther that continent extended to 
the east, the nearer it came round toward Spain." And he 
had but to turn from the marvelous propositions of Mande- 
ville and Aliaco to become the recipient of confidences 
more marvelous still. The air was full of rumors, and the 
weird imaginings of many generations of mediaeval navi- 
gators had taken shape and substance, and appeared bodily 
to men's eyes. Martin Vicente, a Portuguese pilot, had 
found, 450 leagues to the westward of Cape St. Vincent, 
and after a westerly gale of many days' duration, a piece 
of strange wood, sculptured very artistically, but not with 
iron. Pedro Correa, his own brother-in-law, had seen 
another such waif near the Island of Madeira, while the 
King of Portugal had information of great canes, capable 
of holding four quarts of wine between joint and joint, 
which Ilerrera declares the King received, preserved, and 
showed to Columbus. From the colonists on the Azores 
Columbus heard of two men being washed up at Flores, 
"very broad-faced, and differing in aspect from Christians." 
The transport of all these objects being attributed to the 
west winds and not to the gulf stream, the existence of 
which was then totally unsuspected. West of the Azores 
now and then there hove in sight the mysterious Islands of 
St. Brandan; and 200 leagues west of the Canaries lay 



14 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

somewhere the lost Island of the Seven Cities, that two 
valiant Genoese had vainly endeavored to discover, and in 
search of which, yearly, the merchants of Bristol sent 
expeditions, even before Columbus sailed. In his northern 
journey, too^ some vague and formless traditions may have 
reached his ear of the voyages of Biorn and Lief, and of the 
pleasant coasts of Helleland, Markland, and Vinland that lay 
toward the setting sun. All were hints and rumors to bid 
the bold mariner sail westward, and this he at length deter- 
mined to do. There is also some vague and unreliable 
tradition as to a Portuguese pilot discovering the Indies 
previous to Columbus, and on his deathbed revealing the 
secret to the Genoese explorer. It is at the best but a 
fanciful tale. 

The concurrence of some state or sovereign, however, 
was necessary for the success of this design. The Senate 
of Genoa had the honor to receive the first offer, and the 
responsibility of refusing it. Rejected by his native city, 
the projector turned next to John II. of Portugal. This 
King had already an open field for discovery and enterprise 
along the African coast; but he listened to the Genoese, 
and referred him to the Committee of Council for Geo- 
graphical Affairs. The council's report was altogether 
adverse; but the King, who was yet inclined to favor the 
theory of Columbus, assented to the suggestion of the 
Bishop of Ceuta that the plan should be carried out in 
secret, and without Columbus' knowledge, by means of a 
caravel or light frigate. The caravel was dispatched, but 
it returned after a brief absence, the sailors having lost 
heart, and having refused to venture farther. Upon dis- 
covering this dishonorable transaction, Columbus felt so 
outraged and indignant that he sent off his brother Bar- 
tholomew to England with letters for Henry VII., to whom 
he had communicated his ideas. He himself left Lisbon 



THE LIFE OF COLUMBUS. 15 

for Spain (1484), taking with him his son Diego, the only 
issue of his marriage with FeHpa Mofiiz. He departed 
secretly, according to some writers to give the slip to King 
John, according to others to escape his creditors. In one 
of his letters Columbus says: "When I came from such a 
great distance to serve these princes, I abandoned a wife 
and children, whom, for this cause, I never saw again." 
The first traces of Columbus at the court of Spain are on 
May 5, 1487, when an entry in some accounts reads: " Given 
to-day 3,000 maravedis (about $18) to Cristobal Colomo, 
a stranger." Three years after (March 20, 1488), a letter 
was sent by the King to "Christopher Colon, our especial 
friend," inviting him to return, and assuring him against 
arrest and proceedings of any kind; but it was then too late. 

Columbus next betook himself to the south of Spain, and 
seems to have proposed his plan first to the Duke of Medina 
Sidonia (who was at first attracted by it, but finally threw 
it up as visionary and impracticable), and next to the Duke 
of Medina Cell. The latter gave him great encouragement, 
entertained him for two years, and even determined to 
furnish him with the three or four caravels. Finally, how- 
ever, being deterred by the consideration that the enterprise 
was too vast for a subject, he turned his guest from the 
determination he had come to, of making instant applica- 
tion to the court of France, by writing on his behalf to 
Queen Isabella; and Columbus repaired to the court at 
Cordova at her bidding. 

It was an ill moment for the navigator's fortune. Cas- 
tille and Leon were in the thick of that struggle which 
resulted in the final defeat of the Moors; and neither 
Ferdinand nor Isabella had time to listen. The adventurer 
was indeed kindly received; he was handed over to the 
care of Alonzo de Quintanilla, whom he speedily converted 
into an enthusiastic supporter of his theory. He made 



16 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

many other friends, and here met with Beatrix Enriquez, 
the mother of his second son, Hernando, who was born 
August 15, 1488. 

A certain class of writers pretend that Beatrix Enriquez 
was the lawful wife of Columbus. If so, when he died she 
would of right have been Vice-Queen Dowager of the Indit-s. 
Is it likely that $56 would have been the pension settled 
upon a lady of such rank? Sefior Castelar, than whom theie 
is no greater living authority, scouts the idea of a legal 
marriage; and, indeed, it is only a few irresponsible and 
peculiarly aggressive Catholic writers who have the hardi- 
hood to advance this more than improbable theory. Mr. 
Henry Harrisse, a most painstaking critic, thinks that 
Felipa Moniz died in 1488. She was buried in the Mon 
astery do Carmo, at Lisbon, and some trace of her may 
hereafter be found in the archives of the Provedor or Rcl;- 
istrar of Wills, at Lisbon, when these papers are arranged, 
as she must have bequeathed a sum to the poor, under the 
customs then prevailing. 

From Cordova, Columbus followed the court to Sala- 
manca, where he was introduced to the notice of the grand 
cardinal, Pedro Gonzales de Mendoza, "the third King 
of Spain." The cardinal, while approving the project, 
thought that it savored strongly of heterodoxy; but an 
interview with the projector brought. him over, and through 
his influence Columbus at last got audience of the Kiig. 
The matter was finally referred, however, to Fernando de 
Talavera, who, in 1487, summoned a junta of astronomers 
and cosmographers to confer with Columbus, and examine 
his design and the arguments by which he supported it. 
The Dominicans of San Esteban in Salamanca entertained 
Columbus during the conference. The jurors, who were 
most of them ecclesiastics, were by no means unprejudiced, 
nor were they disposed to abandon their pretensions to 



THE LIFE OF COLUMBUS. 17 

knowledge without a struggle. Columbus argued his point, 
but was overwhelmed with Biblical texts, with quotations 
from the great divines, with theological objections, and in 
a short time the junta was adjourned. Seiior Rodriguez 
Pinilla, the learned Salamantine writer, holds that the first 
refusal of Columbus' project was made in the official coun- 
cil at Cordova. In 1489, Columbus, who had been follow- 
ing the court from place to place (billeted in towns as an 
officer of the King and gratified from time to time with 
sums of money toward his expenses), was present at the 
siege of Malaga. In 1490 the junta decided that his proj- 
ect was vain and impracticable, and that it did not become 
their Highnesses to have anything to do with it; and this 
was confirmed, with some reservation, by their Highnesses 
themselves, at Seville. 

Columbus was now in despair. So reduced in circum- 
stances was he that (according to the eminent Spanish 
statesman and orator, Emilio Castelar) he was jocularly and 
universally termed "the stranger with the threadbare coat." 
He at once betook himself to Huelva, where his brother-in- 
law resided, with the intention of taking ship to France. He 
halted, however, at Palos, a little maritime town in Andalusia. 
At the Monastery of Santa Maria de la Rabida^ he knocked 
and asked for bread and water 'for his boy Diego, and pres- 
ently got into conversation with Fray Juan Perez de Mar- 
chena, the prior, who invited him to take up his quarters in 
the monastery, and introduced him to Garci Fernandez, a 
physician and an ardent student of geography. To these 
good men did Columbus propound his theory and explain 
his plan. Juan Perez had been the Queen's confessor; he 
wrote to her and was summoned to her presence, and 
money was sent to Columbus to bring him once more to 

' The monastery has been restored and preserved as a national 
memorial since 1846. 
2 



18 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

court. He reached Granada in time to witness the sur- 
render of the city by the Moors, and negotiations were 
resumed. Columbus believed in his mission, and stood out 
for high terms; he asked the rank of admiral at once, the 
vice-royalty of all he should discover, and a tenth of all the 
gain, by conquest or by trade. These conditions were 
rejected, and the negotiations were again interrupted. An 
interview with Mendoza appears to have followed, but 
nothing came of it, and in January, 1492, Columbus actu- 
ally set out for France. At length, however, on the en- 
treaty of Luis de Santangel, receiver of the ecclesiastical 
revenues of the crown of Aragon, Isabella was induced to 
determine on the expedition. A messenger was sent after 
Columbus, and overtook him at the Bridge of Pinos, about 
two leagues from Granada. He returned to the camp at 
Santa Fe, and on April 17, 1492, the agreement between 
him and their Catholic Majesties was signed and sealed. 
This agreement being familiarly known in Spanish history 
as "The Capitulations of Santa Fe." 

His aims were nothing less than the discovery of the 
marvelous province of Cipango and the conversion to 
Christianity of the Grand Khan, to whom he received a 
royal and curious blank letter of introduction. The town 
of Palos was, by forced levy, as a punishment for former 
rebellion, ordered to find him three caravels, and these 
were soon placed at his disposal. But no crews could 
be got together, Columbus even offering to throw open the 
jails and take all criminals and broken men who would 
serve on the expedition; and had not Juan Perez succeeded 
in interesting Martin Alonzo Pinzon and Vicente Yafiez 
Pinzon in the cause, Columbus' departure had been long 
delayed. At last, however, men, ships, and stores were 
ready. The expedition consisted of the Gallega, rechris- 
tened the Santa Maria, a decked ship, with a crew of fifty 



THE LIFE OF COLUMBUS. 19 

men, commanded by the Admiral in person; and of two 
caravels — the Pinta, with thirty men, under Martin Pinzon, 
and the Nina, with twenty-four men, under his brother, 
Vicente Yafiez Pinzon, afterward (1499) the first to cross the 
line in the American Atlantic. The adventurers numbered 
120 souls, and on Friday, August 3, 1492, at 8 in the 
morning, the little fleet weighed anchor and stood out 
for the Canary Islands, sailing as it were " into a world 
unknown — the corner-stone of a nation." 

Deeply significant was one incident of their first few days' 
sail. Emilio Castelar tells us that these barks, laden with 
bright promises for the future, were sighted by other ships, 
laden with the hatreds and rancors of the past, for it 
chanced that one of the last vessels transporting into exile 
the Jews, expelled from Spain by the religious intolerance 
of which the recently created and odious Tribunal of the 
Faith was the embodiment, passed by the little fleet bound 
in search of another world, where creation should be new- 
born, a haven be afforded to the quickening principle of 
human liberty, and a temple be reared to the God of enfran- 
chised and redeemed consciences. 

An abstract of the Admiral's diary made by the Bishop 
Las Casas is yet extant; and from it many particulars may 
be gleaned concerning this first voyage. Three days after 
the ships had set sail the Pinta lost her rudder. The 
Admiral was in some alarm, but comforted himself with the 
reflection that Martin Pinzon was energetic and ready- 
witted; they had, however, to put in (August 9th) at Ten- 
eriffe to refit the caravel. On September 6th they weighed 
anchor once more with all haste, Columbus having been 
informed that three Portuguese caravels were on the look- 
out for him. On September 13th the variations of the 
magnetic needle were for the first time observed;^ and on 

' The invention of the mariner's compass is claimed by the Chinese 



20 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

the 15th a wonderful meteor fell into the sea at four or five 
leagues distance. On the i6th they arrived at those vast 
plains of seaweed called the Sargasso Sea; and thencefor- 
ward, writes the Admiral, they had most temperate breezes, 
the sweetness of the mornings being most delightful, the 
weather like an Andalusian April, and only the song of the 
nightingale wanting. On the 17th the men began to mur- 
mur. They were frightened by the strange phenomena of 
the variations of the compass, but the explanation Colum- 
bus gave restored their tranquillity. On the i8th they saw 
many birds and a great ridge of low-lying cloud, and they 
expected to see land. On the 20th they saw two pelicans, 
and they were sure the land must be near. In this, how- 
ever, they were disappointed, and the men began to be 
afraid and discontented; and thenceforth Columbus, who 
was keeping all the while a double reckoning — one for the 
crew and one for himself — had great difficulty in restrain- 
ing the men from the excesses which they meditated. On 
the 25th Alonzo Pinzon raised the cry of land, but it 
proved a false alarm; as did the rumor to the same effect 
on October 7th, when the Nina hoisted a flag and 
fired a gun. On the nth the Pinta fished up a cane, a 
log of wood, a stick wrought with iron, and a board, and 
the Niila sighted a branch of hawthorne laden with ripe 
luscious berries, "and with these signs all of them breathed 

for the Emperor Hong-ti, a grandson of Noah, about 2634 B. C. A 
compass was brought from China to Queen Elizabeth A. D. 1260 by 
P. Venutus. By some the invention is ascribed to Marcus Paulus, a 
Venetian, A. D. 1260. The discovery of the compass was long attributed 
to Flavio Gioja, a Neapolitan sailor, A. D. 1302, who in reality made 
improvements on then existing patterns and brought them to the form 
now used. The variation of the needle was known to the Chinese, 
being mentioned in the works of the Chinese philosopher Keon-tsoung- 
chy, who flourished about A. D. mi. The dip of the needle was dis- 
covered A. 1). 1576 by Robert Normanof London. Time was measured 
on voyages by the hour-glass. Compare Shakespere: 

Or four and twenty tunes the pilot's glass 
Hath told the thievish minutes how they pass. 



THE LIFE OF COLUMBUS. 21 

and were glad." At 8 o'clock on that night, Columbus 
perceived and pointed out a light ahead,^ Pedro Gutierrez 
also seeing it; and at 2 in the morning of Friday, October 
12, 1492, Rodrigo de Triana, a sailor aboard the Nina, 
a native of Seville, announced the appearance of what 
proved to be the New World.* The land sighted was 

^ Capt. Parker, in Goldthwaithes Geographical Monthly, argues ably 
that the myth that a light was seen by Columbus at 8 p. m. of the night 
of the discovery should be dropped simply as rubbish; it is incredible. 
More than one hundred men in the three vessels were anxiously looking 
for signs of land, and two "think" they see a light. To say that Co- 
lumbus felt sure that he saw a light is to pronounce him an imbecile. For 
if ahead, he would have stopped; if abeam, stood for it. His log does 
not say where or in what direction the light was — an important omission — 
and Columbus rati forty sea miles after he satu this mythical light. 

We may safely decide that Watling Island, named after a buccaneer 
or pirate of the seventeenth century, is best supported by investigation 
as the landfall of Columbus. 

Cronau, who visited Watling Island in 1890, supposes that Columbus' 
ships, after making the land, continued on their course, under the reduced 
sail, at the rate of four or five miles an hour; and at daylight found 
themselves off the northwest end of the island. Mr. Cronau evidently 
is not a seafaring man or he would know that no navigator off an 
unknown island at night would stand on, even at the rate of one mile 
an hour, ignorant of what shoal or reefs might lie off the end of the 
island. 

■* The following from Las Casas' epitome of the log is all the infor- 
mation we have concerning the " sighting " of the New World: 

"Thursday, October 11, 1492. — Navegb al Oitcsudueste, turviero7i 
mucho mar mas que en todo el viage hahian tcnido. Dcspiics del sol piiesto 
navegb d sii primer Camitio al Oiteste; andarian doce millas cada hora. 
A las dos horas despuesde media noche paircio la tierra, de la cual estarian 
dos legiias. Atnainaron todas las velas y qitedaron con el treo qtie es la 
vela grande sin bonetas, y pusieroiise a la corda temporizando hasta el dia 
viernes que llcgaron d iind isleta de las Lticayos qite se llainaba en lengiia 
de iiidios Gnanahatti." 

That is: " They steered west-southwest and experienced a much 
heavier sea than they had had before in the whole voyage. After sunset 
they resumed their former course west, and sailed twelve miles an hour. 
At 2 o'clock in the morning the land appeared (was sighted), two leagues 
off. They lowered all the sails and remained under the storm sail, which 
is the main sail without bonnets, and hove to, waiting for daylight; and 
Friday [found they had] arrived at a small island of the Lucayos which 
the Indians called Guanahani." 

It will be observed that these are the words of Las Casas, and they 
were evidently written some years after the event. 



22 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

an island called by the Indians Guanahani, and named 
by Columbus San Salvador.^ 

The same morning Columbus landed, richly clad, and 
bearing the royal banner of Spain. He was accompanied 
by the brothers Pinzon, bearing banners of the Green 
Cross, a device of his own, and by great part of the crew. 
When they had all " given thanks to God, kneeling down 
upon the shore, and kissed the ground with tears of joy, 
for the great mercy received," the Admiral named the 
island, and took solemn possession of it for their Catholic 
Majesties of Castille and Leon. At the same time such of 
the crews as had shown themselves doubtful and mutinous 
sought his pardon weeping, and prostrated themselves at 
his feet. Had Columbus kept the course he laid on leaving 
Ferrol, says Castelar, his landfall would have been in the 
Florida of to-day, that is, upon the main continent; but, 
owing to the deflection suggested by the Pinzons, and 
tardily accepted by him, it was his hap to strike an island, 
very fair to look upon, but small and insignificant when 
compared with the vast island-world in whose waters he 
was already sailing. 

Into the details of this voyage, of highest interest as it 
is, it is impossible to go further. The letter of Columbus, 
hereinafter printed, gives further and most interesting 
details. It will be enough to say here that it resulted in 
the discovery of the islands of Santa Maria del Concepcion, 
Exuma, Isabella, Juana or Cuba, Bohio, the Cuban Arch- 
ipelago (named by its finder the Jardin del Rey), the island 
of Santa Catalina, and that of Espanola, now called Haiti 



^ Helps refers to the island as "one of the Bahamas." It has been 
variously identified with Turks Island, by Navarette (1825); with Cat 
Island, by Irving (1S28) and Humboldt (1836); with Mayaguara, by 
Varnhagen (1864); and finally, with greatest show of probability, with 
Watling Island, by Munoz (1798), supported by Becher (1S56), Peschel 
(1857), and Major (1871). 



THE LIFE OF COLUMBUS. 23 

or San Domingo. Off the last of these the Santa Maria 
went aground, owing to the carelessness of the steersman. 
No lives were lost, but the ship had to be unloaded and 
abandoned; and Columbus, who was anxious to return to 
Europe with the news of his achievement, resolved to plant 
a colony on the island, to build a fort out of the material 
of the stranded hulk, and to leave the crew. The fort was 
called La Navidad; forty-three Europeans were placed in 
charge, including the Governor Diego de Arana; two lieu- 
tenants, Pedro Gutierrez and Rodrigo de Escobedo; an 
Irishman named William Ires (?Harris), a native of Gal- 
way; an Englishman whose name is given as Tallarte de 
Laj^, * and the remainder being Spaniards. 

On January i6, 1493, Columbus, who had lost sight of 
Martin Pinzon, set sail alone in the Nina for the east; 
and four days afterward the Pinta joined her sister ship 
off Monte Christo. A storm, however, separated the ves- 
sels, during which (according to Las Casas) Columbus, fear- 
ing the vessel would founder, cast his duplicate log-book, 
which was written on parchment and inclosed in a cake of 
wax, inside a barrel, into the sea. The log contained a 
promise of a thousand ducats to the finder on delivering it 
to the King of Spain. Then a long battle with the trade 
winds caused great delay, and it was not until February 
i8th that Columbus reached the Island of Santa Maria in 
the Azores. Here he was threatened with capture by the 
Portuguese governor, who could not for some time be 
brought to recognize his commission. On February 24th, 
however, he was allowed to proceed, and on March 4lh the 
Nina dropped anchor off Lisbon. The King of Portu- 
gal received the Admiral with the highest honors; and on 
March 13th the Nina put out from the Tagus, and two 
days afterward, Friday, March 15th, dropped anchor off 
Palos. 

* See page 217, post. 



24 'cOLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

The court was at Barcelona, and thither, after dispatch- 
ing a letter** announcing his arrival, Columbus proceeded in 
person. He entered the city in a sort of triumphal pro- 
cession, and was received by their Majesties in full court, 
and, seated in their presence, related the story of his wan- 
derings, exhibiting the "rich and strange" spoils of the 
new-found lands — the gold, the cotton, the parrots, the 
curious arms, the mysterious plants, the unknown birds 
and beasts, and the nine Indians he had brought with him 
for baptism. All his honors and privileges were confirmed 
to him; the title of Don was conferred on himself and his 
brothers; he rode at the King's bridle; he was served and 
saluted as a grandee of Spain. And, greatest honor of all, 
a new and magnificent escutcheon was blazoned for him 
(May 4, 1493), whereon the royal castle and lion of Castille 
and Leon were combined with the four anchors of his own 
old coat of arms. Nor were their Catholic Highnesses less 
busy on their own account than on that of their servant. 
On May 3d and 4th, Alexander VI. granted bulls confirm- 
ing to the crowns of Castille and Leon all the lands dis- 
covered,^ or to be discovered, beyond a certain line of 
demarcation, on the same terms as those on which the Portu- 
guese held their colonies along the African coast. A new 
expedition was got in readiness with all possible dispatch 
to secure and extend the discoveries already made. 

* The greatest blot on the character of Columbus is contained in this 
and a succeeding letter. Under the shallow pretense of beneHting the 
souls of idolaters, he suggested to the Spanish rulers the advisability of 
shipping the natives to Spain as slaves. He appeals to their cupidity 
by picturing the revenue to be derived therefrom, and stands convicted 
in the light of history as the prime author of that blood-drenched rule 
which exterminated millions of simple aborigines in the West Indian 
Archipelago. 

' The countries which he had discovered were considered as a part 
of India. In consequence of this notion the name of Indies is given to 
them by Ferdinand and Isabella in a ratification of their former agree- 
ment, which was granted to Columbus after his return. — Robertson's 
" History of America." 




THE DE BRY PORTRAIT OF COLUMBUS. 



THE LIFE OF COLUMBUS. 25 

After several delays the fleet weighed anchor on Septem- 
ber 25th and steered westward. It consisted of three 
great carracks (galleons) and fourteen caravels (light frig- 
ates), having on board about 1,500 men, besides the ani- 
mals and materials necessary for colonization. Twelve 
missionaries accompanied the expedition, under the orders 
of Bernardo Boyle, a Benedictine friar; and Columbus had 
been directed (May 29, 1493) to endeavor by all means in 
his power to christianize the inhabitants of the islands, to 
make them presents, and to " honor them much," while all 
under him were commanded to treat them " well and lov- 
ingly," under pain of severe punishment. On October 13th 
the ships, which had put in at the Canaries, left Ferrol, and 
so early as Sunday, November 3d, after a single storm, " by 
the goodness of God and the wise management of the 
Admiral," land was sighted to the west, which was named 
Dominica. Northward from this new-found island the isles 
of Maria Galante and Guadaloupe were discovered and 
named ; and on the northwestern course to La Navidad, those 
of Montserrat, Antigua, San Martin, and Santa Cruz were 
sighted, and the island now called Puerto Rico was touched 
at, hurriedly explored, and named San Juan. On Novem- 
ber 22d Columbus came in sight of Espanola, and, sailing 
eastward to La Navidad, found the fort burned and the 
colony dispersed. He decided on building a second fort, 
and, coasting on forty miles east of Cape Haytien, he 
pitched on a spot, where he founded the city and settle- 
ment of Isabella. 

It is remarkable that the first notice of India rubber on 
record is given by Herrera, who, in the second voyage of 
Columbus, observed that the natives of Haiti "played a 
game with balls made of the gum of a tree." 

The character in which Columbus had appeared had till 
now been that of the greatest of mariners; but from this 



26 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

point forward his claims to supremacy are embarrassed 
and complicated with the long series of failures, vexations, 
miseries, insults, that have rendered his career as a planter 
of colonies and as a ruler of men most pitiful and remark- 
able. 

The climate of Navidad proved unhealthy; the colonists 
were greedy of gold, impatient of control, and as proud, 
ignorant, and mutinous as Spaniards could be; and Colum- 
bus, whose inclinations drew him westward, was doubtless 
glad to escape the worry and anxiety of his post, and to 
avail himself of the instructions of his sovereigns as to 
further discoveries. In January, 1494, he sent home, by 
Antonio de Torres, that dispatch to their Catholic High- 
nesses by which he may be said to have founded the West 
Indian slave trade. He founded the mining camp of San 
Tomaso in the gold country; and on April 24, 1494, hav- 
ing nominated a council of regency under his brother 
Diego, and appointed Pedro de Margarite his captain-gen- 
eral, he put again to sea. After following the southern 
shore of Cuba for some days, he steered southward, and 
discovered the Island of Jamaica, which he named Santi- 
ago. He then resumed his exploration of the Cuban coast, 
threading his way through a labyrinth of islets supposed to 
be the Morant Keys, which he named the Garden of the 
Queen, and after coasting westward for many days he 
became convinced that he had discovered the mainland, 
and called Perez de I,una, the notary, to draw up a docu- 
ment attesting his discovery (June 12, 1494), which was 
afterward taken round and signed, in presence of four 
witnesses, by the masters, mariners, and seamen of his three 
caravels, the Niila, the Cadera, and the San Juan. 
He then stood to the southeast and sighted the Island of 
Evangelista; and after many days of difficulties and anxie- 
ties he touched at and named the Island La Mona. Thence 



THE LIFE OF COLUMBUS. 27 

he had intended to sail eastward and complete the survey 
of the Carribean Archipelago. But he was exhausted by 
the terrible wear and tear of mind and body he had under- 
gone (he says himself that on this expedition he was three- 
and-thirty days almost without any sleep), and on the day 
following his departure from La Mona he fell into a 
lethargy that deprived him of sense and memory, and had 
well nigh proved fatal to life. At last, on September 29th, 
the little fleet dropped anchor off Isabella, and in his new 
city the great Admiral lay sick for five months. 

The colony was in a sad plight. Everyone was discon- 
tented, and many were sick, for the climate was unhealthy 
and there was nothing to eat. Margarite and Boyle had 
quitted Espaiiola for Spain; but ere his departure the 
former, in his capacity as captain-general, had done much 
to outrage and alienate the Indians. The strongest meas- 
ures were necessary to undo this mischief; and, backed by' 
his brother Bartholomew, a bold and skillful mariner, and a 
soldier of courage and resource, who had been with Diaz 
in his voyage around the Cape of Good Hope, Columbus 
proceeded to reduce the natives under Spanish sway.* 
Alonzo de Ojeda succeeded, by a brilliant coup de main, in 
capturing the Cacique Caonabo, and the rest submitted. 
Five ship-loads of Indians were sent off to Seville (June 
24, 1495) to be sold as slaves; and a tribute was imposed 
upon their fellows, which must be looked upon as the 
origin of that system of repartimientos or encomiendas 
which was afterward to work such cruel mischief among 
the conquered. But the tide of court favor seemed to 
have turned against Columbus. In October, 1495, Juan 
Aguada arrived at Isabella, with an open commission from 

* The will of Diego Mendez, one of Columbus' most trusted followers, 
states that the Governor of Xaragua in seven months burned and hanged 
eighty-four chiefs, including the Queen of San Domingo. 



28 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

their Catholic Majesties, to inquire into the circumstances 
of his rule; and much interest and recrimination followed. 
Columbus found that there was no time to be lost in 
returning home; he appointed his brother Bartholomew 
"adelantado" of the island, and on March lo, 1496, he 
quitted Espanola in the Nina. The vessel, after a pro- 
tracted and perilous voyage, reached Cadiz on June 11, 
1496. The Admiral landed in great dejection, wearing 
the costume of a Franciscan. Reassured, however, by the 
reception of his sovereigns, he asked at once for eight 
ships more, two to be sent to the colony with supplies and 
six to be put under his orders for new discoveries. The 
request was not immediately granted, as the Spanish ex- 
chequer was not then well supplied. But principally owing 
to the interest of the Queen, an agreement was come to 
similar to that of 1492, which was now confirmed. By this 
royal patent, moreover, a tract of land in Espanola, of fifty 
leagues by twenty, was made over to him. He was offered 
a dukedom or a marquisate at his pleasure; for three years 
he was to receive an eighth of the gross and a tenth of 
the net profits on each voyage, the right of creating a 
mayorazgo or perpetual entail of titles and estates was 
granted him, and on June 24th his two sons were received 
into Isabella's service as pages. Meanwhile, however, the 
preparing of the fleet proceeded slowly, and it was not 
till May 30, 1498, that he and his six ships set sail. 

From San Lucar he steered for Gomera, in the Canaries, 
and thence dispatched three of his ships to San Domingo. 
He next proceeded to the Cape Verde Islands, which he 
quitted on July 4th. On the 31st of the same month, being 
greatly in need of water, and fearing that no land lay west- 
ward as they had hoped, Columbus had turned his ship's 
head north, when Alonzo Perez, a mariner of Huelva, saw 
land about fifteen leagues to the southwest. It was crowned 



THE LIFE OF COLUMBUS. 29 

with three hilltops, and so, when the sailors had sung the 
Salve Regina, the Admiral named it Trinidad, which name it 
yet bears. On Wednesday, August ist, he beheld for the first 
time, in the mainland of South America, the continent he 
had sought so long. It seemed to him but an insignificant 
island, and he called it Zeta. Sailing westward, next day 
he saw the Gulf of Paria, which was named by him the 
Golfo de la Belena, and was borne into it — an immense risk 
— on the ridge of breakers formed by the meeting with the 
sea of the great rivers that empty themselves, all swollen 
with rain, into the ocean. For many days he coasted the 
continent, esteeming as islands the several projections he 
saw and naming them accordingly; nor was it until he had' 
looked on and considered the immense volume of fresh 
water poured out through the embouchure of the river now 
called the Orinoco, that he concluded that the so-called 
archipelago must be in very deed a great continent. 

Unfortunately at this time he was suffering intolerably 
from gout and ophthalmia; his ships were crazy; and he 
was anxious to inspect the infant colony whence he had 
been absent so long. And so, after touching at and 
naming the Island of Margarita, he bore away to the 
northeast, and on August 30th the fleet dropped anchor off 
Isabella. 

He found that affairs had not prospered well in his 
absence. By the vigor and activity of the adelantado, the 
whole island had been reduced under Spanish sway, but at the 
expense of the colonists. Under the leadership of a certain 
Roldan, a bold and unprincipled adventurer, they had risen 
in revolt, and Columbus had to compromise matters in order 
to restore peace. Roldan retained his office; such of his 
followers as chose to remain in the island were gratified 
with repartiiitientos of land and labor; and some fifteen, 
choosing to return to Spain, were enriched with a number of 



30 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

slaves, and sent home in two ships, which sailed in the early 
part of October, 1499. 

Five ship-loads of Indians had been deported to Spain 
some little time before. On arrival of these living cargoes 
at Seville, the Queen, the stanch and steady friend of Co- 
lumbus, was moved with compassion and indignation. No 
one, she declared, had authorized him to dispose of her 
vassals in any such manner; and proclamations at Seville, 
Granada, and other chief places ordered (June 20, 1499) 
the instant liberation and return of all the last gang 
of Indians. In addition to this, the ex-colonists had 
become incensed against Columbus and his brothers. 
They were wont to parade their grievances in the very 
court-yards of the Alhambra; to surround the King, when 
he came forth, with complaints and reclamations; to in- 
sult the discoverer's young sons with shouts and jeers. 
There was no doubt that the colony itself, whatever the 
cause, had not prospered so well as might have been de- 
sired. Historians do not hesitate to aver that Columbus' 
over- colored and unreliable statements as to the amount of 
gold to be found there were the chief causes of discontent. 

And, on the whole, it is not surprising that Ferdinand, 
whose support to Columbus had never been very hearty, 
should about this time have determined to suspend him. 
Accordingly, on March 21, 1499, Francisco de Bobadilla 
was ordered to " ascertain what persons had raised them- 
selves against justice in the Island of Espafiola, and to 
proceed against them according to law." On May 21st the 
government of the island was conferred on him, and he 
was accredited with an order that all arms and fortresses 
should be handed over to him; and on May 26th he 
received a letter, for delivery to Columbus, stating that the 
bearer would "speak certain things to him " on the part of 
their Highnesses, and praying him to "give faith and ere- 



THE LIFE OF COLUMBUS. 31 

dence, and to act accordingly." Bobadilla left Spain in 
July, 1500, and landed in Espauola in October. 

Columbus, meanwhile, had restored such tranquillity as 
was possible in his government. With Roldan's help he 
had beaten off an attempt on the island by the adventurer 
Ojeda, his old lieutenant; the Indians were being collected 
into villages and christianized. Gold mining was actively 
and profitably pursued; in three years, he calculated, the 
royal revenues might be raised to an average of 60,000,000 
reals. The arrival of Bobadilla, however, on August 23, 
1500, speedily changed this state of affairs into a greater and 
more pitiable confusion than the island had ever before 
witnessed. On landing, he took possession of the Admiral's 
house, and summoned him and his brothers before him. 
Accusations of severity, of injustice, of venality even, were 
poured down on their heads, and Columbus anticipated 
nothing less than a shameful death. Bobadilla put all three 
in irons, and shipped them off to Spain. 

Andreas Martin, captain of the caravel in which the illus- 
trious prisoners sailed, still retained a proper sense of the 
honor and respect due to Columbus, and would have removed 
the fetters; but to this Columbus would not consent. He 
would wear them until their Highnesses, by whose order they 
had been affixed, should order their removal; and he would 
keep them afterward "as relics and memorials of the 
reward of his services." He did so. His son Hernando 
"saw them always hanging in his cabinet, and he requested 
that when he died they might be buried with him." 
Whether this last wish was complied with is not known. 

A heart-broken and indignant letter from Columbus to 
Doiia Juana de la Torres, the governess of the infant Don 
Juan, arrived at court before the dispatch of Bobadilla. It 
was read to the Queen, and its tidings were confirmed by 
communications from Alonso de Villejo and the alcaide of 



32 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

Cadiz. There was a great movement of indignation; the tide 
of popular and royal feeling turned once more in the Admi- 
ral's favor. He received a large sum to defray his expenses; 
and when he appeared at court, on December 17th, he was 
no longer in irons and disgrace, but richly appareled and 
surrounded with friends. He was received with all honor 
and distinction. The Queen is said to have been moved to 
tears by the narration of his story. Their Majesties not 
only repudiated Bobadilla's proceedings, but declined to 
inquire into the charges that he at the same time brought 
against his prisoners, and promised Columbus compensation 
for his losses and satisfaction for his wrongs. A new gov- 
ernor, Nicolas de Ovando, was appointed in Bobadilla's 
room, and left San Lucar on February 18, 1502, with a fleet 
of thirty ships. The latter was to be impeached and sent 
home. The Admiral's property was to be restored and a 
fresh start was to be made in the conduct of colonial 
affairs. Thus ended Columbus' history as viceroy and 
governor of the new Indies, which he had presented to the 
country of his adoption. 

His hour of rest, however, was not yet come. Ever 
anxious to serve their Catholic Highnesses, " and particu- 
larly the Queen," he had determined to find a strait through 
which he might penetrate westward into Portuguese Asia. 
After the usual inevitable delays his prayers were granted, 
and on May 9, 1502, with four caravels and 150 men, he 
weighed anchor from Cadiz and sailed on his fourth and 
last great voyage. He first betook himself to the relief of 
the Portuguese fort of Arzilla, which had been besieged 
by the Moors, but the siege had been raised voluntarily 
before he arrived. He put to sea westward once more, and 
on June 13th discovered the Island of Martinique. He 
had received positive instructions from his sovereigns on 
no account to touch at Espanola, but his largest caravel 



3 O 



tn m 

9 o 

3D 
> H 

H > 

■ r 

o 




THE LIFE OF COLUMBUS. 33 

was greatly in need of repairs, and he iiad no choice but to 
abandon her or disobey orders. He preferred the latter 
alternative, and sent a boat ashore to Ovando, asking for a 
new ship and for permission to enter the harbor to weather 
a hurricane which he saw was coming on. But his re- 
quests were refused, and he coasted the island, casting 
anchor under lee of the land. Here he weathered the 
storm, which drove the other caravels out to sea and anni- 
hilated the homeward-bound fleet, the richest till then that 
had been sent from Espanola. Roldan and Bobadilla per- 
ished with others of the Admiral's enemies; and Hernando 
Colon, who accompanied his father on this voyage, wrote, 
long years afterward, " I am satisfied it was the hand of 
God, for had they arrived in Spain they had never been 
punished as their crimes deserved, but rather been favored 
and preferred." 

After recruiting his flotilla at Azua, Columbus put in at 
Jaquimo and refitted his four vessels, and on July 14, 1502, 
he steered for Jamaica. For nine weeks the ships wan- 
dered painfully among the keys and shoals he had named 
the Garden of the Queen, and only an opportune easterly 
wind prevented the crews from open mutiny. The first 
land sighted was the Islet of Guanaja, about forty miles to 
the east of the coast of Honduras. Here he got news 
from an old Indian of a rich and vast country lying to the 
eastward, which he at once concluded must be the long- 
sought-for empire of the Grand Khan. Steering along the 
coast of Honduras great hardships were endured, but 
nothing approaching his ideal was discovered. On Sep- 
tember 13th Cape Gracias-S,-Dios was sighted. The men 
had become clamorous and insubordinate; not until De- 
cember 5th, however, would he tack about and retrace his 
course. It now became his intention to plant a colony on 
the River Veragua, which was afterward to give his 
3 



34 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA, 

descendants a title of nobility; but he had hardly put 
about when he was caught in a storm which lasted eight 
days, wrenched and strained his crazy, worm-eaten ships 
severely, and finally, on the Epiphany, blew him into an 
embouchure, which he named Bethlehem. Gold was very 
plentiful in this place, and here he determined to found his 
settlement. By the end of March, 1503, a number of 
huts had been run up, and in these the adelantado, with 
eighty men, was to remain, while Columbus returned to 
Spain for men and supplies. Quarrels, however, arose 
with the natives, the adelantado made an attempt to seize 
on the person of the cacique and failed, and before Colum- 
bus could leave the coast he had to abandon a caravel to 
take the settlers on board, and to relinquish the enterprise. 
Steering eastward he left a second caravel at Porto Bello, 
and on May 31st he bore northward for Cuba, where he 
obtained supplies from the natives. From Cuba he bore 
up for Jamaica, and there, in the harbor of Santa Gloria, 
now St. Anne's Bay, he ran his ships aground in a small 
inlet called Don Christopher's Cove. 

The expedition was received with the greatest kindness 
by the natives, and here Columbus remained upward of a 
year awaitmg the return of his lieutenant Diego Mendez, 
whom he had dispatched to Ovando for assistance. 
During his critical sojourn here the Admiral suffered much 
from disease and from the lawlessness of his followers, 
whose misconduct had alienated the natives, and provoked 
them to withhold their accustomed supplies, until he dex- 
terously worked upon their superstitions by prognosticating 
an eclipse. Two vessels having at last arrived for their 
relief from Mendez and Ovando, Columbus set sail for 
Spain, after a tempestuous voyage landing once more at 
Seville on September 7, 1504. 

As he was too ill to go to court, his son Diego was sent 



THE LIFE OF COLUMBUS. 35 

thither in his place, to look after his interests and transact 
his business. Letter after letter followed the young man 
from Seville, one by the hands of Amerigo Vespucci. A 
license to ride on mule-back was granted him on February 
23, 1505;" and in the following May he was removed to the 
court at Segovia, and thence again to Valladolid. On the 
landing of Philip and Juan at Corufia (April 25, 1506), 
although " much oppressed with the gout and troubled to 
see himself put by his rights," he is known to have sent 
the adelantado to pay them his duty and to assure them 
that he was yet able to do them extraordinary service. 
The last documentary note of him is contained in a codicil 
to the will of 1498, made at Valladolid on May 19, 1506; 
the principal portion is said, however, to have been signed 
at Segovia on August 25, 1506. By this the old will is 
confirmed; the mayorazgo is bequeathed to his son Diego 
and his heirs male; failing these to Hernando, his second 
son, and failing these to the heirs male of Bartholomew. 

^ Owing to the difficulty in securing animals for the cavalry in Spain 
(about A. D. 1505), an edict had been published by the King forbidding 
the use of mules in traveling, except by royal permission. 

While Columbus was in Seville he wished to make a journey to the 
court, then sitting at Granada, to plead his own cause. Cardinal 
Mendoza placed his litter at the disposal of the Admiral, but he pre- 
ferred a mule, and wrote to Diego, asking him to petition the King for 
the privilege of using one. The request was granted in the following 
curious document: 

Decree granting to Don Cristoval Colon permission to ride on a mule, 
saddled and bridled, through any part of these Kingdoms. 

The King: As I am informed that you, Cristoval Colon, the 
Admiral, are in poor bodily health, owing to certain diseases which you 
had or have, and that you can not ride on horse-back without injury to 
your health; therefore, conceding this to your advanced age, I, by these 
presents, grant you leave to ride on a mule, saddled and bridled, through 
whatever parts of these kingdoms or realms you wish and choose, not- 
withstanding the law which I issued thereto; and I command the sub- 
jects of all parts of these kingdoms and realms not to offer you any 
impediment or allow any to be offered to you, under penalty of ten thou- 
sand maravedi in behalf of the treasury, of whoever does the contrary. 

Given in the City of Toro, February 23, 1505. 



36 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

Only in the event of the extinction of the male line, direct 
or collateral, is it to descend to the females of the family; 
and those into whose hands it may fall are never to dimin- 
ish it, but always to increase and ennoble it by all means 
possible. The head of the house is to sign himself " The 
Admiral." A tenth of the annual income is to be set aside 
yearly for distribution among the poor relations of the 
house. A chapel is founded and endowed for the saying 
of masses. Beatrix Enriquez is left to the care of the young 
Admiral in most grateful terms. Among other legacies is 
one of " half a mark of silver to a Jew who used to live at 
the gate of the Jewry in Lisbon." The codicil was written 
and signed with the Admiral's own hand. Next day (May 
20, 1506) he died. 

The body of Columbus was buried in the parish church 
of Santa Maria de la Antigua in Valladolid. It was trans- 
ferred in 15 13 to the Cartuja de las Cuevas, near Seville, 
where on the monument was inscribed that laconic but 
pregnant tribute: 

A Castilla y a Leon, 
Nuevo in undo did Colon. 

(To Castiile and Leon, Columbus gave a new world.) 

Here the bones of Diego, the second Admiral, were also 
laid. Exhumed in 1536, the bodies of both father and son 
were taken over sea to Espafiola (San Domingo), and in- 
terred in the cathedral. Li 1795-96, on the cession of that 
island to the French, the august relics were re-exhumed, and 
were transferred with great state and solemnity to the cathe- 
dral of Havana, where, it is claimed, they yet remain. The 
male issue of the Admiral became extinct with the third 
generation, and the estates and titles passed by marriage to 
a scion of the house of Braganca. 

" In person, Columbus was tall and shapely, long-faced 
and aquiline, white-eyed and auburn-haired, and beauti- 



THE LIFE OF COLUMBUS. 37 

fully complexioned. At thirty his hair was quite gray. He 
was temperate in eating and drinking and in dress, and so 
strict in religious matters, that for fasting and saying all 
the divine office he might be thought possessed in some 
religious order." His piety, as his son has noted, was earnest 
and unwavering; it entered into and colored alike his 
action and his speech; he tries his pen in a Latin distich of 
prayer; his signature is a mystical pietistic device.^" He 
was pre-eminently fitted for the task he created for himself. 
Through deceit and opprobrium and disdain he pushed on 
toward the consummation of his desire; and when the hour 
for action came, the man was not found wanting. 

Within the last seven years research and discovery have 
thrown some doubt upon two very important particulars 
regarding Columbus. One of these is the identity of the 
island which was his first discovery in the New World; the 
other, the final resting-place of his remains. 

There is no doubt whatever that Columbus died in 
Valladolid, and that his remains were interred in the 
church of the Carthusian Monastery at Seville, nor that, 
some time between the years 1537 and 1540, in accordance 
with a request made in his will, they were removed to the 
Island of Espafiola (Santo Domingo). In 1795, when Spain 
ceded to France her portion of the island, Spanish officials 
obtained permission to remove to the cathedral at Havana 
the ashes of the discoverer of America. There seems to be 
a question whether the remains which were then removed 
were those of Columbus or his son Don Diego. 

"> .s. 
.s. s .s. 
X M Y 
Xpo FERENS. 
Columbus' Cipher. — The interpretation of the seven-lettered cipher, 
accepting the smaller letters of the second line as the final ones of the 
words, seems to be Ser7'atr-iiu\ Xristus, Maria, Yosephus. The name 
Christopher appears in the last line. 



38 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

In 1877, during the progress of certain work in the 
cathedral at Santo Domingo, a crypt was disclosed on one 
side of the altar, and within it was found a metallic coffin 
which contained human remains. The coffin bore the fol- 
lowing inscription: "The Admiral Don Luis Colon, Duke 
of Veragua, Marquis of Jamaica," referring, undoubtedly, 
to the grandson of Columbus. The archbishop Senor 
Roque Cocchia then took up the search, and upon the 
other side of the altar were found two crypts, one empty, 
from which had been taken the remains sent to Havana, 
and the other containing a metallic case. The case bore 
the inscription: " D. de la A Per Ate," which was inter- 
preted to mean: " Descubridor de la America, Primer 
Almirante" (Discoverer of America, the First Admiral). 
The box was then opened, and on the inside of the cover 
were the words: " Illtre y Esdo Varon, Dn Cristoval Colon" 
— Illustrissime y Esclarecido Varon Don Cristoval Colon 
(Illustrious and renowned man, Don Christopher Columbus). 
On the two ends and on the front were the letters, ^'C. C. A." 
— Cristoval Colon, Almirante (Christopher Columbus, 
Admiral). The box contained bones and bone-dust, a 
small bit of the skull, a leaden ball, and a silver plate two 
inches long. On one side of the plate was inscribed: 

Ua. pie. de los rtos 
del pmr. alte D. 
Cristoval Colon Dcsr. 

(Urna perteneciente de los restos del Primer Almirante Don 
Cristoval Colon, Descubridor — Urn containing the 
remains of the First Admiral Don Chris- 
topher Columbus, Discoverer.) 
On the other side was: " U. Cristoval Colon" (The coffin 
of Christopher Columbus). 

These discoveries have been certified to by the arch- 
bishop Roque Cocchia, and by others, including Don Emil- 



THE LIFE OF COLUMBUS. 39 

iana Tejera, a well-known citizen. The Royal Academy of 
History at Madrid, however, challenged the foregoing 
statements and declared that the remains of Columbus were 
elsewhere than at Havana. Tejera and the archbishop have 
since published replies affirming the accuracy of their 
discovery." 

Regarding the identity of the island first seen by Colum- 
bus, Capt. G. V. Fox, in a paper published by the U. S. 
Coast Survey in 1882, discusses and reviews the evidence, 
and draws a different conclusion and inference from that 
heretofore commonly accepted. His paper is based upon 
the original journals and log-book of Columbus, which were 
published in 1790 by Don M. F. Navarrete, from a manu- 
script of Bishop Las Casas, the contemporary and friend of 
Columbus, found in the archives of the Duke del Infanta. 
In this the exact words of the Admiral's diary are repro- 

'" See Washington Irving, Life and Voyages of Columbus, London, 
1831; Humboldt, Examen Critique de I'Histoire de la Geographic du 
Nouveau Continent, Paris, 1836; Sportorno, Codice Diplomatico Colom- 
bo-Americano, Genoa, 1823; Hernan Colon, Vita dell' Ammiraglio, 1571; 
(English translation in vol. xi of Churchill's Voyages and Travels, 
third edition, London, 1744; Spanish, 1745); Prescott, History of Ferdi- 
nand and Isabella. London, 1870; Major, Select Letters of Columbus, 
Hakluyt Society London, 1847, and " On the Landfall of Columbus," 
in Journal of Royal Geographical Society for 1871; Sir Arthur Helps, 
Life of Columbus, London, i86S; Navarrete, Coleccion de Viages y Des- 
cubrimientos desde Fines del Siglo XV., Madrid, 1825; Ticknor, History 
of Spanish Literature, London, 1S63. 

See also Pietro Martire d'Anghiera. Opus Epistolarum 1530, and De 
Rebus Oceanicis et de Orbe Novo, 151 1; Cjomora, in Historiadores Prim- 
itives de Indias, vol. xxii of Rivadaneyra's collection; Oveido y Valdes, 
Cronica de las Indias, Salamanca. 1547; Ramusio, Raccolta delle Navi- 
gatione et viaggi iii, Venetia, 1575; Henera de Tordesillas, Historia de 
las Indias Occidentales, 1601, Antonio Leon Pinelo, Epitome de la ISib- 
lioteca Oriental y Occidental, Madrid, 1623, Munoz, Historia del Nuevo 
Mundo, Madrid 1793, Cancellieri, Notizia di Christoforo Colombo, i8og; 
Bossi, Vita di Christoforo Colombo, 18 rg. Charlevoix, Histoire de San 
Domingo; Lamartine, Christoph Colomb, Paris, 1862 (Spanish transla- 
tion, 1865); Crompton, Life of Columbus, London, 1859; Voyages and 
Discoveries of Columbus, sixth edition, London, 1857; H. R. St. John, 
Life of Columbus, London, 1850. 



40 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

duced by Las Casas, extending from the nth to the 29th 
of October, the landing being on the 12th. From the 
description the diary gives, and from a projection of a 
voyage of Columbus before and after landing, Capt. Fox 
concludes that the island discovered was neither Grand 
Turk's, Mariguana, Watling's, nor Cat Island (Guanahani), 
but Samana, lat. 23 deg. 05 min., N.; long. 75 deg. 35 
min., W. 

If we accept the carefully drawn deductions of Capt. 
Fox there is reason to believe that the island discovered 
was Samana. 



SELECTED LETTERS OF COLUMBUS. 



Translation of the letter of Christopher Columbus offer- 
ing his services to King Ferdinand of Spain: 

Most Serene Prince: I have been engaged in navigating from 
my youth. J have voyaged 07i the seas for nearly forty years. 
I have visited all known quarters of the world and have con- 
versed with a great number of learned men — with ecclesiastics, 
with seculars^ with Latins, with Greeks, with Moors, and 
with persons of all sorts of religions. I have acquired some 
knoivledge of navigation, of astronomy, and of geometry. I am 
sufficiently expert in designing the chart of the earth to place 
the cities, the rivers, and the mountains where they are situated. 
I have applied myself to the study of works on cosmography, on 
history, and on philosophy. I feel myself at present strongly 
urged to undertake the discovery of the Indies; and I come to 
your Highjiess to supplicate you to favor my enterprise. I doubt 
not that those who hear it will turti it into ridicule; but if your 
Highness will give me the means of executing it, whatever the 
obstacles may be I hope to be able to make it succeed}" 

Translation of a letter written by Christopher Columbus 
from the court of Queen Isabella at Barcelona to Padre 
Juan Perez de Marchena, a Franciscan monk, Prior of the 
Convent of Santa Maria de la Rabida, Huelva, Spain 
(Date, 1492): 

Our Lord God has heard the prayers of His serva?its. The 
ivise and virtuous Isabel, touched by the grace of Heaven, has 
kindly listened to this poor man's words. All has turned out 

'^ This letter received no answer. 

(41) 



43 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

well. I have read to them our plan, it has been accepted, and 
I have been called to the court to state the proper means for 
carrying out the designs of Providence. My courage swifus 
in a sea of consolation, and my spirit rises in praise to God. 
Coffie as soon as you can; the Queen looks for you, and I much 
more than she. I commend myself to the prayers of my dear 
sons and you. 

The grace of God be 7vith you, and may our Lady of Rdbida 
bless you. 

COLUMBUS' OWN ACCOUNT OF HIS GREAT DISCOVERY. 

Translation of a letter sent by Columbus to Luis de 
Santangel, Chancellor of the Exchequer of Aragon, respect- 
ing the islands found in the Indies; inclosing another for 
their Highnesses (Ferdinand and Isabella). 

R. H. Major, F. S. A., Keeper of the Department of Maps and Charts 
in the British Museum and Honorary Secretary of the Royal Geographical 
Society of England, states that the peculiar value of the following letter, 
descriptive of the first important voyage of Columbus, is that the events 
described are from the pen of him to whom the events occurred. In it 
we have laid before us, as it were from Columbus' own mouth, a clear 
statement of his opinions and conjectures on what were to him great 
cosmical riddles — riddles which have since been solved mainly through 
the light which his illustrious deeds have shed upon the field of our 
observation: 

Sir: Believing that you will take pleasure in hearing of 
the great success which our Lord has granted me in my voyage, 
I write you this letter, whereby you will learn how in thirty - 
three ^^ days' time I reached the Lndies with the fleet which the 
most illustrious King and Queen, our Sovereigns, gave to tne, 
where L found very many islands thickly peopled, of all which 
L took possession, without resistance, for their Highnesses, by 
proclamation inade and zvith the royal standard unfurled. To 

'' Columbus left the Canary Isles September Sth, made the land Octo- 
ber 11th- thirty-three days. 



SELECTED LETTERS OF COLUMBUS. 43 

the first island that I found I gave the name of San Salvador ^^ 
in retnembrance of His High Majesty, who hath marvelously 
brought all these things to pass; the Indians call it Giianahani. 
To the second island I gave the name of Santa Maria de Con- 
cepcio/i; the third I called Fernandina\ the fourth, Isabella; the 
fifth, Juana; and so to each one I gave a new naitie. 

When I reached Juana, I follotved its coast to the westward, 
and found it so large that I thought it must be the mainland, 
— the province of Cathay; and as I found neither toiuns nor 
villages on the sea-coast, but only a few hamlets, tvith the 
inhabitants of ivhich I could not hold conversation because they 
all inwiediately fled, I kept on the same route, thittking that I 
could not fail to light upon some large cities and towns. 

At length, after proceeding of many leagues and finding 
that nothing new presented itself, and that the coast was leading 
me northward {which I wished to avoid, because winter had 
already set in, and it was my intention to move southward; and 
because, moreover, the tvinds ivere contrary), I resolved not to 
7iiait for a change in the weather, but returned to a certain 
harbor which I had remarked, and from tvhich I sent two 
men ashore to ascertain whether there 7c>as any king or large 
cities in that part. They journeyed for three days and found 
countless small hamlets with numberless inhabitants, but rvith 
nothing like order; they therefore returned. In the meantime 
I had learned from some other Indians whom I had seized 
that this land was certainly an island; accordingly, I folloived 
the coast eastttiard for a distance of lo'j leagues, where it ejided 
in a cape. From this cape I saw another island to the east- 
ward, at a distance of eighteen leagues from the former, to 
which I gave the name of '■'■La Espanola." Thither I went, 
and followed its northern coast to the eastward {just as I had 
done with the coast of Juana) \ i^ full leagues due east. This 
island like all the others is extraordinarily large, and this one 

'^Watling's Island. 



44 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

extremely so. In it are many seaports., with which none that 
I know in Christendom can bear comparison, so good and 
capacious that it is wonder to see. The lands are high., and 
there are many very lofty mountains icith which the island 
of Cetefrey can not be compared. They are all most beautiful., 
of a thousand dijferent shapes., accessible, atid covered with trees 
of a thoicsand kinds, of such great height that they Si emed to 
reach the skies. I am told that the trees never lose their 
foliage, and I can well understand it, for I observed that they 
were as green and luxuriant as in Spain in the month of May. 
Some were in bloom, others bearing fruit, and others otherwise, 
according to their nature. The nightingale was singing as 
well as other birds of a thousand different kinds; and that in 
November, the month in zvhich I myself was roaming amongst 
them. There are pahti trees of six or eight kinds, wonderful 
in their beautiful variety; but this is the case ivith all the other 
trees and fruits and grasses; trees, plants, or fruits filed us 
with admiration. It contains extraordinary pine groves and 
very extensive plains. There is also honey, a great vai-iety of 
birds, and ??iany different kinds of fruits. In the interior there 
are many mines of metals and a population innumerable. 
Espariola is a wonder. Its mountains and plains, and 
meadoivs and f elds, are so beautiful and rich for planting and 
sowing, and rearing cattle of all kinds, and for building towns 
and villages. The harbors on the coast, and the ?iumber and 
size and wholesomcness of the rivers, most of them bearing gold, 
surpass anything that would be believed by one tvho had not 
seen them. There is a great difference betiveen the trees, fruits, 
and plants of this island and those of Juana. In this island 
there are many spices and extensive mines of gold and other 
metals. The inhabitants of this and of all the other islands I 
have found or gained intelligence of , both men and women, go 
as 7iaked as they were born, with the exception that some of the 
women cover one part only tuith a single leaf of grass or ivith 



SELECTED LETTERS OF COLUMBUS. 45 

apiece of cotton made for that piirpose. They have neither 
iron nor steel nor arms, nor are they competent to use them ^ 
not that they are not well-formed and of handsome stature, but 
because they are timid to a surprising degree. Their only arms 
are reeds, cut in the seeding time, ^* to which they fasten small 
sharpened sticks, and even these they dare not use; for on sev- 
eral occasions it has happened that I have sent ashore ttuo or 
three men to some village to hold a parley, and the people have 
come out in countless numbers, but as soon as they saw our men 
approach, would flee with such precipitation that a father 
would not even stop to protect his son; and this not because any 
harm had been done to any of them, for from the first, zuherever 
I went and got speech with them, I gave them of all that I 
had, such as cloth and many other things, without receiving 
a?iything in return; but they are, as I have described, incurably 
timid. It is true that when they are reassured and throtvn off 
this fear they are guileless, and so liberal of all they have that 
no one would believe it who had not seen it. They never refuse 
anything that they possess luhen it is asked of them; on the con- 
trary, they offer it themselves, and they exhibit so much loving 
kindness that they would even give their hearts; and, whether 
it be something of value or of little worth that is offered to 
them, they are satisfied. I forbade that worthless things, such 
as pieces of broken porringers and broken glass, and ends of 
straps, should be given to them; although, when they succeeded 
in obtaining them, they thought they possessed the finest feivel in 
the world. It was ascertained that a sailor received for a 
leather strap a piece of gold weighing two castellanos ^* and a 
half, and others received for other objects, of far less value, 
much more. For neiv blancas^^ they would give all they had, 

'^ These canes are probably the flowering stems of large grasses, simi- 
lar to the bamboo or to the arimdinaria used by the natives of Guiana 
for blowing arrows. 

'* An old Spanish coin, equal to the fiftieth part of a mark of gold. 

'■" Small copper coins, equal to about the quarter of a farthing. 



46 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

whether it was two or three castellanos in gold or one or two 
arrobas ^* of spun cotton. They took even bits of the broken hoops 
of the wine barrels., and gave, like fools, all that they possessed 
in exchange, insomuch that J thought it was wrong and forbade 
it. I gave away a thousand good and pretty articles which I 
had brought with me in order to win their affection; and that 
they might be led to become Christians, and be well inclined to 
love and serve their Highnesses and the luhole Spanish tuition, 
and that they might aid us by giving us things of which we stand 
in need, but which they possess in abundance. They are not 
acquainted with any kind of worsJiip, and are not idolaters; but 
believe that all power and, indeed, all good things are 
in heaven; a?id they are firmly convinced that I, with my 
vessels and creivs, came from heaven, and with this belief 
received me at every place at which I touched, after they had 
overcome their apprehension. And this does not spring froin 
ignorance, for they are very intelligent, and navigate all these seas, 
and relate everything to us, so that it is astonishing what a good 
account they are able to give of everything ; but they have never 
seen men with clothes <Hi, nor vessels like ours. On my reaching 
the Ituiics, I took by force, in the first island that I discovered, 
some of these natives, that they might learn our language and 
give me information in regard to ti'hat existed in these parts; 
and it so happened that they soon understood us and we them, 
either by ivords or signs, and they have been very serviceable to 
us. They are still with me, and, from repeated conversations 
that I have had with them, J find that they still believe that I come 
from heaven. And they luere the first to say this wherever I went, 
and the others ran from house to house and to the neighboring vil- 
lages, crying with a loud voice: " Come, come, and see the people 
from heaven! ''And thus they all, men as well as women, after 
their minds were at rest about us, catne, both large and small, 
and brought us something to eat and drink, which they gave us 

'^One arroba weighs twenty-five pounds. 



SELECTED LETTERS OF COLUMBUS. 47 

with extraordinary kindness. They have in all these islands 
very many canoes like our roivboats; some larger, some smaller, 
but most of them larger than a barge of eighteen scats. They are 
not so wide, because they are made of one single piece of timber ; 
but a barge could not keep up 7vith them in rowing, because 
they go with incredible speed, and with these canoes they navi- 
gate among these islands, which are innumerable, and carry on 
their traffic. I have seen in some of these canoes seventy and 
eighty men, each with his oar. In all these islands I did not 
notice much difference in the appearance of the inhabitants, nor 
in their manners, nor language, except that they all understood 
each other, which is very singular, and leads me to hope that 
their Highnesses will take means for their conversion to our 
holy faith, toward which they are very 7vell disposed. '^ have 
already said how I had gone 107 leagues in following t. e sea- 
coast of Juana in a straight li^ie from west to east; a?id from 
that survey I can state that the island is larger than England 
and Scotland together, because beyond these 107 leagues there 
lie to the loest ttejo provinces 7vhich I have not yet visited, one of 
which is called Avan, where the people are born with a tail. 
These two provinces can ?iot be less than from fifty to sixty 
leagues, from what can be learned from the Indians that I have 
with me, afid who are acquainted with all these islands. The 
other, Espanola, has a greater circumference than all Spain, 
from Catalonia by the seacoast to Fuenterabia in Biscay, since 
on one of its four sides I made 188 great leagues i?i a straight 
line from west to east. This is something to covet, and, when 
found, not to be lost sight of. Although I have taken 
possession of all these islands in the name of their Highnesses, 
and they are all more abundant in wealth than I am able to 
express; and although I hold them all for their Highnesses, so 
that they can dispose of them quite as absolutely as they can of 
the kingdoms of Castille, yet there ivas one large town in Espa- 
nola of which especially I took possession, situated in a locality 



48 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

well adapted for the working of the gold inines, and for all 
kinds of commerce, cither with the mainland on this side or 
with that beyond, which is the land of the Great Khan, with 
which there will be vast cojmnerce and great profit. To that 
city I gave the tiame of Villa de Navidad, and fortified it with 
a fortress, which by this time will be quite C07npleted, and I have 
left in it a sufficient number of men with arms, '^^ artillery, and 
i)rovisions for more than a year, a barge, and a sailing master 
skillful in the arts necessary for building others. I have also 
established the greatest friendship with the King of that coun- 
try, so much so that he took pride in calling me his brother, and 
treating me as such. Even should these people change their 
intentions toward us and beco??ie hostile, they do not know what 
arms are, but, as I have said, go naked, emd are the most timid 
people in the world; so that the mefi I have left could, alone, 
destroy the tohole country, and this island has no danger for 
them, if they only knoiv how to conduct themselves. In ail those 
islands it seems to me that the men are content with one wife, 
except their chief or king, to whom they give ttventy. The women 
seem to me to work more than the men. I have not been able 
to learn whether they have any property of their own. It 
seems to me that what one possessed belonged to all, especially in 
the }?iatter of eatables. I have not found in those islands any 

" There appears to be a doubt as to the exact number of men left b}' 
Columbus at Espafiola, different accounts variously giving it as thirty- 
seven, thirty-eight, thirty-nine, and forty. There is, however, a list of 
their names included in one of the diplomatic documents printed on 
Navarrete's work, which makes the number amount to forty, independent 
of the Governor Diego de Arana and his two lieutenants, Pedro Gutier- 
rez and Rodrigo de Escobedo. All these men were Spaniards, with the 
exception of two; one an Irishman named William Ires, a native of 
Galway, and one an Englishman, whose name was given as Tallarte de 
Lajes, but whose native designation it is difficult to guess at. The 
document in question was a proclamation to the effect that the heirs of 
those men should, on presenting at the office of public business at Seville 
sufficient proof of their being the next of kin, receive payment in con- 
formity with the royal order to that purpose, issued at Burgos on Decem- 
ber 20, 1507. 




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SELECTED LETTERS OF COLUMBUS. 49 

monsters, as many imagined j but, on the contrary, the whole 
race is well formed, nor are they black as in Guinea, but their 
hair IS flowing, for they do not dwell in that part where the 
force of the sun's rays is too poiverful. It is true that the sun 
has very great power there, for the country is distant only 
twenty-six degrees from the equinoctial line. In the islands 
where there are high mountains, the cold this tvinter was very 
. great, but they endure it, not only from being habituated to it 
but by eating meat with a variety of excessively hot spices is 
to savages, I did not even hear of any, except at an island 
which lies the second in one's way coming to the Indies?'' It is 
inhabited by a race which is regarded throughout these islands as 
extremely ferocious, and eaters of human flesh. These possess 
many canoes, in which they visit all the Indian islands, and rob 
and plunder whatever they can. They are no worse formed 
than the rest, except that they are in the habit of wearing their 
hair long, like women, and use bows and arrows made of reeds 
with a small stick at the end, for want of iron, which they do 
not possess. They are ferocious amongst these exceedingly 
timid people; but I think no more of them than of the rest 
These are they which have intercourse with the zoomen of 
Matenino,'' the first island one comes to on the way from Spain 
to the Indies, and in ivhich there are no men. These women 
employ themselves in no labor suitable to their sex, but use boivs 
and arrows made of reeds like those above described, and arm 
and cover themselves with plates of copper, of which metal they 
have a great quantity. 

They assure trie that there is another island larger than 
Espanola in which the inhabitants have no hair. It is extremely 
rich in gold; and I bring with me Indians taken from these 
different islands, who will testify to all these things. Finally 
andspeaki?ig only of what has taken place in this voyage, which 

"" Dominica. 

*' Martinique. 
4 



50 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

lus been so hasty, their Highnesses may see that I shall give 
them all the gold they require, if they will give me but a very 
little assistance; spices also, and cotton, as much as their High- 
nesses shall command to be shippe .■ . and mastic— hitherto found^ 
only in Greece, in the Island of Chios, and which the Signoria^'' 
sells at its own price— as much as their Highnesses shall com- 
mand to be shipped; lign aloes, as much as their Highnesses 
shall command to be shipped; slaves, as many of these idolaters 
as their Highnesses shall command to be shipped. I think I 
have also found rhubarb and cinnamon, and J shall find a 
thousand other valuable things by means of the men that I have 
left behind me, for I tarried at no point so long as the wind 
allowed me to proceed, except in the town of Navidad, where I 
took the necessary precautions for the security and settlement of 
the men I had left there. Much more I would have done if 
my vessels had been in as good a condition as by rights they 
ought to have been. This is much, and praised be the eternal 
God, our Lord, who gives to ail those who walk in his ways 
victory over things which seem impossible; of which this is 
signally one, for, although others have spoken or written con- 
cer7iing these countries, it was all mere conjecture, as no one 
could say that he had seen them— it amounting only to this, that 
those who heard listened the more, and re<rarded the matter 
rather as a fable than atiything else. But our Redeemer has 
granted this victory to our illustrious King and Queen and 
their kingdoms, which have acquired great fame by an event of 
such high importance, in which all Christendom ought to rejoice, 
and which it ought to celebrate with great festivals and the 
offering of solemn thanks to the Holy Trinity with many 
solemn prayers, both for the great exaltation which may accrue 
to them in turning so many nations to our holy faith, and 
also for the temporal bene fts which will b ring great refresh- 

^■' Of Genoa. The Island of Chios belonged to the Genoese Republic 
from 1346 to 1566. 



SELECTED LETTERS OF COLUMBUS. 51 

ment and gain, not only to Spain, but to ail Christians. This, 
thus briefly, in accordance with the events. 

Done on board the caravel, off the Canary Islands, on the 
fifteenth of February, fourteen hundred and ninety-three. 
At your orders, 

THE ADMIRAL. 

After this letter was ivritten, as I was in the Sea of Castille, 
there arose a southivest wind, tvhich compelled me to lighten 
my vessels, and run this day into this port of Lisbon, an evetit 
which I consider the most marvelous thing in the world, and 
whence I resolved to write to their Highnesses. In all the Indies 
I have always found the weather like that in the month of 
May. I reached them in thirty-three days, and returned in 
twenty-eight, with the exception that these storms detained me 
fourteen days knocking about in this sea. All seamen say that 
they have never seen such a severe 7vinter nor so many vessels 
lost. 

Done on the fourteenth day of March. 

The prayer of Columbus on landing at Guanahani on 
the morning of Friday, October 12, 1492: 

Lord! Eternal and Almighty God! who by Thy sacred 
word hast created the heavens, the earth, and the seas, may 
Thy name be blessed and glorified everywhere. May Thy 
Majesty be exalted, who hast deigned to permit that by Thy 
humble servant Thy sacred natne should be made known and 
preached in this other part of the world}'^ 

COLUMBUS AND GENOA. 

Columbus in bequeathing a large portion of his income 
to the Bank of St. George in Genoa, upon trust, to reduce 

'^^ This prayer of Columbus, which is printed by Padre Claudio Clementi 
in the " Tablas Chronologicas de los Descubridores " (Valencia, 1689), was 
afterward repeated, by order of the Sovereigns of Castille, in subsequent 
discoveries. Hernando Cortez, Vasco Nunez de Balboa, Pizarro, and 
others, had to use it officially. 



53 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

the tax upon provisions, only did what Dario de Vivaldi had 
accomplished in 147 1 and 1480, as we read on the pedestal 
of his statue, erected in the hall of the bank. This example 
was followed by Antonio Doria, Francesco Lomellini, Eliano 
Spinola, Ansaldo Grimaldo, and others, as the inscriptions 
on their statues testify. A fac-simile letter of Columbus, 
announcing the bequest, is shown on the opposite page. 

The letter in English is as follows: 

High noble Lords: Although the body walks about here, 
the heart is constantly over there. Our Lord has conferred on 
me the greatest favor ever granted to any one since David. 
The results of my undertaking already appear, and would 
shine greatly, 7vere they not concealed by the blindness of the 
gover?iment. L am going again to the Lndies tinder the 
auspices of the Holy Trinity, soon to return, and since T am 
fnortal I leave it with my son Diego that you receive every year, 
forever, one-tenth of the entire revenue, such as it may be, for 
the purpose of reducing the tax upon cor?i, ivine, and other 
provisions ^^^ If that tenth amounts to something, collect it. If 

'■* It is very much to be regretted that Christopher Columbus' inten- 
tions in this respect were not carried out, because the Protectors would 
have certainly decreed that a marble statue should be erected to commem- 
orate so great a gift, and we would then possess an authentic portrait of 
the discoverer of America, which does not exist anywhere. Nor do I 
believe that the portrait of Columbus ever was drawn, carved, or painted 
from the life. 

There were doubtless painters already in Spain at the close of the 
fifteenth century, such, for instance, as Juan Sanchez de Castro, Pedro 
Berruguette, Juan de Borgona, Antonio del Rincon, and the five artists 
whom Cardinal Ximenes intrusted with the task of adorning the para- 
nymph of the University of Alcala, but they painted only religious sub- 
jects. It is at a later period that portrait painting commenced in Spain. 
One of those artists may have thought of painting a portrait of Columbus, 
but there is no trace of any such intention in the writings of the time, 
nor of the existence of an authentic effigy of the great navigator in Spain 
or any other country. 

We must recollect that the enthusiasm created by the news of the dis- 
covery of America was far from being as great as people now imagine, 
and if we may judge from the silence of Spanish poets and historians of 
the fifteenth century, it produced less effect in Spain than anywhere else. 






7»Hv, TUii/dl jyixi/^ 









e ,/> 



.-/■- /t/irxl 



. / ^^/^- r/o "-'Va Vo.'; v;, ^*i, w, 



f? >A 



;''•■ h^cjt /■ 






V' /V (^^ (C^ 












v-/a^/- ?>i^);)cV' 3(t >tA,y(i 










Dated April 2, 1502. ^tiMUA. 

(See page 52,; 



SELECTED LETTERS OF COLUMBUS. 53 

■not, take at least the ivill for the deed. I beg of you to enter- 
tain regard for the son I haiw recommended to you. Mr. 
Nicolo de Oderigo knoivs more about my own affairs than I do 
myself, and I have sent him the transcripts of my privileges attd 
letters for safe keeping. I should be glad if you could see 
them. My lords, the King and Queen, endeavor to honor me 
more tha?i ever. May the Holy Trinity preserve your 7ioble 
persons and increase the most magnificent House {of St. George). 
Done in Sevilla on the second day of April, 1502. 

The Chief Admiral of the Ocean, Vice-Roy and 
Governor-General of the islands and continent 
of Asia, and the Indies of my lords, the King 

At all events, the popularity of Columbus lasted scarcely six months, as 
deceptions commenced with the first letters that were sent from Hispan- 
iola, and they never ceased whilst he was living. In fact, it is only 
between April 20, 1493, which is the date of his arrival in Barcelona, 
and the 2oth of May following, when he left that city to embark for the 
second expedition (during the short space of six weeks), that his portrait 
might have been painted; although it was not then a Spanish notion, by 
any means. Neither Boabdil nor Gonzalvo de Cordova, whose exploits 
were certainly much more admired by the Spaniards than those of Colum- 
bus, were honored in that form during their lifetime. Even the portraits 
of Ferdinand and Isabella, although attributed to Antonio del Rincon, 
are only fancy pictures of the close of the sixteenth century. 

The popularity of Columbus was short-lived because he led the Spanish 
nation to believe that gold was plentiful and easily obtained in Cuba and 
Hispaniola, whilst the Spaniards who, seduced by his enthusiastic descrip- 
tions, crossed the Atlantic in search of wealth, found nothing but suffer- 
ings and poverty. Those who managed to return home arrived in Spain 
absolutely destitute. They were noblemen, who clamored at the court 
and all over the country, charging "the stranger" with having deceived 
them. (Historia de los Reyes Catolicos, cap. Ixxxv, f. 188; Las Casas, 
lib. i, cap. cxxii, vol. ii, p. 176; Andres Bernaldez, cap. cxxxi, vol. ii, 
p. 77.) It was not under such circumstances that Spaniards would have 
caused his portrait to be painted. The oldest effigy of Columbus known 
(a rough wood-cut in Jovius, illustrium virorum vitce, Florentise, 1549, 
folio), was made at least forty years after his death, and in Italy, where 
he never returned after leaving it as a poor and unknown artizan. Let it 
be enough for us to know that he was above the medium height, robust, 
with sandy hair, a face elongated, flushed and freckled, vivid light gray 
eyes, the nose shaped like the beak of an eagle, and that he always was 
dressed like a monk. (Bernaldez, Oviedo, Las Casas, and the author of 
the Libretto, all eye-witnesses.) — H. Harrisse's " Columbus, and the 
Bank of St. George, in Genoa." 



64 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

aiid Queen, their Captain-General of the sea, 
and of their Council. 

''S.A.S." 

"X. M. vr 

''Xpo. Ferens."^^ 

HIS PATIENCE AND NOBILITY OF MIND UNDER SUFFERING 
AND IN THE MIDST OF UNDESERVED INDIGNITIES. 

The reply of Columbus to Andreas Martin, captain of 
the caravel conveying him a prisoner to Spain, upon an 
offer to remove his fetters: 

Since the King has cotnmanded that I should obey his Gov- 
ernor, he shall find me as obedient in this as I have been to all 
his other orders; nothing but his command shall release me. 
If twelve years' hardship and fatigue; if continual dangers 
and frequent famine; if the ocean first opened, and five times 
passed and repassed, to add a new world, abounding with wealth, 
to the Spanish monarchy; and if an infirm and premature old 
age, brought on by these services, deserve these chains as a 
reward, it is very fit I should wear them to Spain, and keep 
them by me as memorials to the end of my life. 

From a letter to the King and Queen: 

This country {the Bahamas) excels all others as far as the 
day surpasses the night in splendor; the natives love their 
neighbors as themselves; their conversation is the siueetest 
imaginable, and their faces are always smiling. So gentle 

*' What strikes the paleographer, when studying the handwriting of 
Christopher Columbus, is the boldness of the penmanship. You can see 
at a glance that he was a very rapid caligrapher, and one accustomed to 
write a great deal. This certainly was his reputation. The numberless 
memoirs, petitions, and letters which flew from his pen gave even rise 
to jokes and bywords. Francesillo de Zuniga, Charles V.'s jester, in one 
of his jocular epistles exclaims: "I hope to God that Gutierrez will 
always have all the paper he wants, for he writes more than Ptolemy and 
I'.ian Columbus, the discoverer of the Indies." — Harrisse. 



II 



SELECTED LETTERS OF COLUMBUS. 55 

and so affectionate are they that I siuear to your Highness 
there is no better people in the world. 

From the same: 

The fish rival the birds in tropical brilliaficy of color, the 
scales of some of them glancing back the rays of light like 
precious stones, as they sported about the ships and flashed 
gleams of gold and silver through the clear ivater. 

Speech of a West Indian chief to Columbus, on his 
arrival in Cuba: 

Whether you are divinities or mortal men, ice knoiv not. 
Yoti have come into these coujitries luith a force, against which, 
were we inclined to resist, it would be folly. We are all there- 
fore at your mercy; but if you are men, subject to mortality 
like ourselves, you ca7i not be unapprised that after this life 
there is another, wherein a very different portion is allotted to 
good and bad men. If therefore you expect to die, and believe, 
with us, that every one is to be rewarded in a future state 
according to his conduct in the present, you will do no hurt to 
those who do none to you. 

SHIPWRECK AND MARRIAGE. 

From the "Life of Columbus," by his son Hernando: 
/ say, that whilst the Admiral sailed with the aforesaid 
^^ Columbus the Younger," which was a long time, it fell out 
that, understanding the before-mentioned four great Venetian 
galleys were coming from Flanders, they 2ve/it out to seek, and 
found thetn beyond Lisbon, about Cape St. Vincent, which is in 
Portugal, where, falling to blows, they fought furiously and 
grappled, beating ofie another fro7n vessel to vessel with the 
utmost rage, snaking use not only of their weapons but artificial 
fireworks; so that after they had fought from morning until 
evening, and abundajice were killed on both sides, theAdfniral's 
ship took fire, as did a great Venetian galley, which, being fast 



56 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

grappled together with iron hooks and chains used to this pur- 
pose by seafaring men, could neither of them be relieved because 
of the confusion there was among them and the fright of the 
fire, which in a short time was so increased that there was tio 
other remedy but for all that could to leap into the water, so to 
die sooner, rather than bear the torture of the fire. 

But the Admiral being an excellent swinwier, a?id seeing 
himself tivo leagues or a little farther from land, layifig hold 
of an oar, 7uhich good fortnne offered him, and, sometimes rest- 
ing upon it, sometimes swimming, it pleased God, who had pre- 
served him for greater ends, to give him strength to get to 
shore, but so tired a?td spent with the water that he had much 
ado to recover himself. And because it was 7iot far from Lis- 
bon, where he knerv there tvere many Ge?ioeses, his countrymen, 
he luent atvay thither as fast as he could, where, being knoum 
by them, he was so courteously received and entertained that he 
set up house and married a wife in that city. And forasmuch 
as he behaved himself honorably, and was a man of comely 
presence, and did nothing but what was Just, it happened that a 
lady whose name was Dona Felipa Moniz, of a good family, 
and pensioner in the Monastery of All Saints, ivhither the 
Admiral used to go to mass, was so taken with him that she 
became his wife. 

PUT NOT YOUR TRUST IN PRINCES. 

From a letter of Christopher Columbus to Ferdinand and 
Isabella: 

Such is my fate that tiventy years of set-vice, through which 
I passed with so much toil and danger, have profited me noth- 
ing; a?id at this day J do not possess a roof in Spain that I can 
call my 07vn. If I tvish to eat or sleep, I have nowhere to go 
but to the inn or tavern, and I seldom have tvherewith to pay 
the bill. I have not a hair upon me that is not gray; my body 
is infirm; and all that was left me, as well as to my brothers. 



SELECTED LETTERS OF COLUMI US. 57 

has oeen taken away and sold, even to the frock that I wore, to 
my great dishonor. I implore your Highnesses to forgive my 
complaints. I am indeed in as ruined a condition as I have 
related. Hitherto I have wept over others; may Heaven now 
have mercy tipon me, and 7/iay the earth weep for me. 

THE SELF-SACRIFICE AND DEVOTION OF COLUMBUS. 

From Columbus' own account of his discovery: 
Such is my plan; if it be dangerous to execute, I am no mere 
theorist who would leave to another the prospect of perishing in 
carrying it out, but am ready to sacrifice my I fie as an example 
to the world in doing so. Ifi I do not reach the shores ofi Asia 
by sea, it will be because the Atlantic has other boundaries in 
the west, and these boundaries I will discover. 

THE TRUST OF COLUMBUS. 

From a letter of Columbus to a friend: 

For me to contetid fior the contrary, would be to contend with 
the wind. I have done all that I could do. I leave the rest to 
God, whom I have ever fiound propitious to me in my necessities. 

SIGNATURE OF COLUMBUS. 

S. - - - - i. e. - - - Servidor 
S. A. S. - - - - - Sus Altezas Sac r as 

X. M. Y. Jesus Maria Ysabel 

Xpo. FERENS Christo-pher 

El Abnirante . . . . . El Almirante. 

In English: Servant — of their Sacred Highnesses — 
Jesus, Mary, and Isabella — Christopher — The Admiral. 

— Becher. 
the last words of columbus. 

Lord, into thy hands I commend my spirit. 



Columbus and Columbia. 



COLUMBUS. 

Look up, look forth, and on. 

There's light in the dawning sky. 

The clouds are parting, the night is gone. 

Prepare for the work of the day. 

— Bayard Taylor. 

A Cast ilia y Leon, 
Nuevo miindo did Colon. 

To Castille and Leon 
Columbus gave a New World. 

Inscription upon Hernando Columbus' tomb, in the pavement of the 
cathedral at Seville, Spain. Also upon the Columbus Monument in the 
Paseo de Recoletos, Madrid. 



COLUMBUS. 



REVERENCE AND WONDER. 

John Adams, American lawyer and statesman, second President of 
the United States. Bom at Braintree (now Quincy), Norfoliv 
County, Mass., October ig, 1735. President, Marcli 4, 1797 — 
March 4, 1801. Died at Braintree July 4, 1826. 

I always consider the discovery of America, with rever- 
ence and wonder, as the opening of a grand scene and 
design in Providence, for the illumination of the ignorant 
and the emancipation of the slavish part of mankind all 
over the earth. 

THE GREATNESS OF COLUMBUS. 

William Livingston Alden, an American author. Born in Massa- 
chusetts October 9,1837. From his '" Life of Columbus " (1882), 
published by Messrs. Henry Holt & Co., New York City. 

Whatever flaws there may have been in the man, he was 
of a finer clay than his fellows, for he could dream dreams 
that their dull imaginations could not conceive. He 
belonged to the same land which gave birth to Garibaldi, 
and, like the Great Captain, the Great Admiral lived in a 
high, pure atmosphere of splendid visions, far removed 
from and above his fellow-men. The greatness of Colum- 
bus can not be argued away. The glow of his enthusiasm 
kindles our own even at the long distance of four hundred 
years, and his heroic figure looms grander through succes- 
sive centuries. 

ANCIENT ANCHORS. 

Two anchors that Columbus carried in his ships are 
exhibited at the World's Fair. The anchors were found by 
Columbian Commissioner Ober near two old wells at San 



63 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

Salvador. He had photographs and accurate models made. 
These reproductions were sent to Paris, where expert anti- 
quarians pronounced them to be fifteenth century anchors, 
and undoubtedly those lost by Columbus in his wreck of¥ 
San Salvador. One of these has been presented to the 
United States and the other is loaned to the Fair. 



COLUMBUS AND THE CONVENT OF LA rXbIDA. 

(anonymous.) 

It was at the door of the convent of La Rabida that 
Columbus, disappointed and down-hearted, asked for food 
and shelter for himself and his child. It was here that he 
found an asylum for a few years while he developed his 
plans, and prepared the arguments whicli he submitted to 
the council at Salamanca. It was in one of the rooms of 
this convent that he met the Dominican monks in debate, 
and it was here also that he conferred with Alonzo Pinzon, 
who afterward commanded one of the vessels of his fleet. 
In this convent Columbus lived while he was making 
preparations for his voyage, and on the morning that he 
sailed from Palos he attended himself the little chapel. 
There is no building in the world so closely identified with 
his discovery as this. 



THE EARNESTNESS OF COLUMBUS. 

(anonymous.) 
Look at Christopher Columbus. Consider the dishearten- 
ing difficulties and vexatious delays he had to encounter; 
the doubts of the skeptical, the sneers of the learned, the 
cavils of the cautious, and the opposition, or at least the 
indifference, of nearly all. And then the dangers of an 
untried, unexplored ocean. Is it by any means probable 
he would have persevered had he not possessed that 
earnest enthusiasm which was characteristic of the great 



COLUMBUS. 63 

discoverer? What mind can conceive or tongue can tell the 
great results which have followed, and will continue to 
follow in all coming time, from what this single individual 
accomplished? A new continent has been discovered; 
nations planted whose wealth and power already begin to 
eclipse those of the Old World, and whose empires stretch 
far away beneath the setting sun. Institutions of learning, 
liberty, and religion have been established on the broad 
basis of equal rights to all. It is true, America might have 
been discovered by what we call some fortunate accident. 
But, in all probability, it would have remained unknown 
for centuries, had not some earnest man, like Columbus, 
arisen, whose adventurous spirit would be roused, rather 
than repressed, by .difficulty and danger. 



EACH THE COLUMBUS OF HIS OWN SOUL. 
(anonymous.) 
Every man has within himself a continent of undiscov- 
ered character. Happy is he who acts the Columbus to 
his own soul. 

A SUPERIOR SOUL. 

(CLADERA. SPANISH.) 

His soul was superior to the age in which he lived. For 
him was reserved the great enterprise of traversing that 
sea which had given rise to so many fables, and of deciph- 
ering the mystery of his time. 



COLUMBUS DARED THE MAIN. 
Samuel Rogers. (See post, page 275.) 
When first Columbus dared the Western main. 
Spanned the broad gulf, and gave a world to Spain, 
How thrilled his soul with tumult of delight, 
When through the silence of the sleepless night 
Burst shouts of triumph. 



64 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

TIIK WORM) A SKAMAN's HAND CONFERRKD. 
J.K.l.owKi.L. (See /i'j/, page 204.) 
Joy, joy for Spain! a seaman's hand confers 
These glorious gifts, for a new world is hers. 

But where is he, that light whose radiance glows, 
'J'he loadstone of succeeding mariners? 

Behold him crushed beneath o'ermastering woes — 
Hopeless, heart-broken, chained, abandoned to his 
foes. 



THE RIDICULE WITH WHICH THE VIEWS OF COLUMBUS WERE 
RECEIVED. 

John J. Anderson, American historical writer. Born in New York, 
1821. From his " History of the United States" (1S87). 

It is recorded that " Columbus had to beg his way from 
court to court to offer to princes the discovery of a world." 
Genoa was appealed to again, then the appeal was made to 
Venice. Not a word of encouragement came from either. 
Columbus next tried Spain. His theory was examined by 
a council of men who were supposed to be very wise about 
geography and navigation. The theory and its author were 
ridiculed. Said one of the wise men: " Is there any one so 
foolish as to believe that there are people living on the other 
side of the earth with their feet opposite to ours? people 
who walk with their heels upward and their heads hanging 
down?" His idea was that the earth was flat like a plate. 



THE GEOGRAPHY OF THE ANCIENTS. 

From the third of a series of articles by the Hon. Elliott Anthony. 

Associate Judge of the Circuit Court of Cook County, Chicago, in 

the Chicago Mail. 
Bancroft, the historian, says that nearly three centuries 
before the Christian era, Aristotle, following the lessons of 
the Pythagoreans, had taught that the earth is a sphere 




"V. *^, .^': ^'* 



I y^lti^.JX~ • " , 




STATUE OF COLUMBUS ON THE BARCELONA MONUMENT, 
(See page 81.) 



COLUMBUS. 65 

and that the water which bounds Europe on the west 
washes the eastern shores of Asia. Instructed by him, the 
Spaniard, Seneca, beUeved that a ship, with a fair wind, 
could sail from Spain to the Indies in a few days. The 
opinion was revived in the Middle Ages by Averroes, the 
Arab commentator of Aristotle. Science and observation 
assisted to confirm it; and poets of ancient and of more 
recent times had foretold that empires beyond the ocean 
would one day be revealed to the daring navigator. The 
genial country of Dante and Buonarotti gave birth to 
Christopher Columbus, by whom these lessons were so 
received and weighed that he gained the glory of fulfilling 
the prophecy. 

Accounts of the navigation from the eastern coast of 
Africa to Arabia had reached the western kingdoms of 
Europe, and adventurous Venetians, returning from travels 
beyond the Ganges, had filled the world with dazzling 
descriptions of the wealth of China, as well as marvelous 
reports of the outlying island empire of Japan. It began 
to be believed that the continent of Asia stretched over far 
more than a hemisphere, and that the remaining distance 
around the globe was comparatively short. Yet from the 
early part of the fifteenth century the navigators of Portu- 
gal had directed their explorations to the coast of Africa; 
and when they had ascertained that the torrid zone is habit- 
able, even under the equator, the discovery of the islands 
of Madeira and the Azores could not divert them from the 
purpose of turning the southern capes of that continent 
and steering past them to the land of spices, which prom- 
ised untold wealth to the merchants of Europe, new domin- 
ions to its princes, and heathen nations to the religion of 
the cross. Before the year 1474, and perhaps as early as 
1470, Columbus was attracted to Lisbon, which was then 
the great center of maritime adventure. He came to insist 
5 



66 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

with immovable resoluteness that l he shortest route to the 
Indies lay across the Atlantic. By the words of Aristotle, 
received through Averroes, and by letters from Toscanelli, 
the venerable cosmographer of Florence — who had drawn a 
map of the world, with Eastern Asia rising over against 
Europe — he was riveted in his faith and lived only in the 
idea of laying open the western path to the Indies. 

After more than ten years of vain solicitations in Portu- 
gal, he left the banks of the Tagus to seek aid of Ferdi- 
nand and Isabella, rich in nautical experience, having 
watched the stars at sea from the latitude of Iceland to 
near the equator atElmina. Though yet longer baffled by the 
skepticism which knew not how to comprehend the clear- 
ness of his conception, or the mystic trances which sus- 
tained his inflexibility of purpose, or the unfailing greatness 
of his soul, he lost nothing of his devotedness to the sublime 
office to which he held himself elected from his infancy by 
the promises of God. When, half resolved to withdraw 
from Spain, traveling on foot, he knocked at the gate of 
the monastery of La Rabida, at Palos, to crave the needed 
charity of food and shelter for himself and his little son, 
whom he led by the hand, the destitute and neglected sea- 
man, in his naked poverty, was still the promiser of king- 
doms, holding firmly in his grasp " the key of the ocean 
sea;" claiming, as it were from Heaven, the Indies as his 
own, and "dividing them as he pleased." It was then that 
through the prior of the convent his holy confidence found 
support in Isabella, the Queen ofCastille; and in 1492, with 
three poor vessels, of which the largest only was decked, 
embarking from Palos for the Indies by way of the west, 
Columbus gave a new world to Castille and Leon, "the like 
of which was never done by any man in ancient or in later 
times." 

The jubilee of this great discovery is at hand, and now 



ill 



COLUMBUS. 67 

after the lapse of 400 years, as we look back over the vast 
ranges of human history, there is nothing in the order of 
Providence which can compare in interest with the condi- 
tion of the American continent as it lay upon the surface 
of the globe, a hemisphere unknown to the rest of the 
world. 

There stretched the iron chain of its mountain barriers, 
not yet the boundary of political communities; there 
rolled its mighty rivers unprofitably to the sea; there spread 
out the measureless, but as yet wasteful, fertility of its 
uncultivated fields; there towered the gloomy majesty of 
its unsubdued primeval forests; there glittered in the secret 
caves of the earth the priceless treasures of its unsunned 
gold, and, more than all that pertains to material wealth, 
there existed the undeveloped capacity of 100 embryo 
states of an imperial confederacy of republics, the future 
abode of intelligent millions, unrevealed as yet to the "ear- 
nest" but unconscious "expectation" of the elder families 
of man, darkly hidden by the impenetrable veil of waters. 
There is, to my mind, says Everett, an overwhelming sad- 
ness in this long insulation of America from the brother- 
hood of humanity, not inappropriately reflected in the 
melancholy expression of the native races. 

The boldest keels of Phoenicia and Carthage had not 
approached its shores. From the footsteps of the ancient 
nations along the highways of time and fortune — the embat- 
tled millions of the old Asiatic despotisms, the iron phalanx 
of Macedonia, the living, crushing machinery of the Roman 
legion which ground the world to powder, the heavy tramp 
of barbarous nations from " the populous north" — not the 
faintest echo had aroused the slumbering West in the cradle 
of her existence. Not a thrill of sympathy had shot across 
the Atlantic from the heroic adventure, the intellectual 
and artistic vitality, the convulsive struggles for freedom, 



68 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

the calamitous downfalls of empire, and the strange 
new regenerations which fill the pages of ancient and 
mediaeval history. Alike when the oriental myriads, Assyr- 
ian, Chaldean, Median, Persian, Bactrian, from the snows 
of Syria to the Gulf of Ormus, from the Halys to the 
Indus, poured like a deluge upon Greece and beat them- 
selves to idle foam on the sea-girt rock of Salamis and the 
lowly plain of Marathon; when all the kingdoms of the 
earth went down with her own liberties in Rome's imperial 
maelstrom of blood and fire, and when the banded powers 
of the west, beneath the ensign of the cross, as the pendu- 
lum of conquest swung backward, marched in scarcely 
intermitted procession for three centuries to the subjuga- 
tion of Palestine, the American continent lay undiscovered, 
lonely and waste. That mighty action and reaction upon 
each other of Europe and America, the grand systole and 
diastole of the heart of nations, and which now constitutes 
so much of the organized life of bot«h, had not yet begun 
to pulsate. 

The unconscious child and heir of the ages lay wrapped 
in the mantle of futurity upon the broad and nurturing 
bosom of divine Providence, and slumbered serenely like 
the infant Uanae through the storms of fifty centuries. 

THE DARK AGES BEFORE COLUMBUS. 

From the writings of Saint Augustine, the most noted of the Latin 
fathers. Born at Tagasta, Numidia, November 13, A. D. 354; 
died at Hippo, August 28, A D. 430. (This passage was relied 
on by the ecclesiastical opponents of Columbus to show the heter- 
odoxy of his project.) 

They do not see that even if the earth were round it 
would not follow that the part directly opposite is not cov- 
ered with water. Besides, supposing it not to be so, what 
necessity is there that it should be inhabited, since the 



COLUMBUS. 69 

Scriptures, in the first place, the fulfilled prophecies of 
which attest the truth thereof for the past, can not be sus- 
pected of telling tales; and, in the second place, it is really 
too absurd to say that men could ever cross such an immense 
ocean to implant in those parts a sprig of the family of 
the first man. 



THE LEGEND OF COLUMBUS. 

Joanna BaiLLIE, a noted Scottish poetess. Born at Bothwell, Scotland, 
1762; died at Hampstead, near London, February 23, 1851. 
From " The Legend of Columbus." 

Is there a man that, from some lofty steep. 
Views in his wide survey the boundless deep, 
When its vast waters, lined with sun and shade. 
Wave beyond wave, in serried distance, fade? 

COLUMBUS THE CONQUEROR. 

No kingly conqueror, since time began 
The long career of ages, hath to man 
A scope so ample given for trade's bold range 
Or caused on earth's wide stage such rapid, 
mighty change. — Ibid. 

THE EXAMPLE OF COLUMBUS. 

Some ardent youth, perhaps, ere from his home 

He launch his venturous bark, will hither come. 

Read fondly o'er and o'er his graven name, 

With feelings keenly touched, with heart aflame; 

Till, wrapped in fancy's wild delusive dream. 

Times past and long forgotten, present seem. 

To his charmed ear the east wind, rising shrill. 

Seems through the hero's shroud to whistle still. 

The clock's deep pendulum swinging through the blast 

Sounds like the rocking of his lofty mast; 

While fitful gusts rave like his clam'rous band. 



70 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

Mixed with the accents of his high command. 
Slowly the stripling quits the pensive scene, 
And burns and sighs and weeps to be what he has 
been. 

Oh, who shall lightly say that fame 
Is nothing but an empty name? 
Whilst in that sound there is a charm 
The nerves to brace, the heart to warm, 
As, thinking of the mighty dead, 

The young from slothful couch will start, 
And vow, with lifted hands outspread, 

Like them to act a noble part. 

Oh, who shall lightly say that fame 
Is nothing but an empty name? 
When but for those, our mighty dead. 

All ages past a blank would be, 
Sunk in oblivion's murky bed, 

A desert bare, a shipless sea! 
They are the distant objects seen, 
The lofty marks of what hath been. — Ibid. 

PALOS THE DEPARTURE. 

On Palos' shore, whose crowded strand 
Bore priests and nobles of the land. 
And rustic hinds and townsmen trim, 
And harnessed soldiers stern and grim, 
And lowly maids and dames of pride, 
And infants by their mother's side — 
The boldest seaman stood that e'er 
Did bark or ship through tempest steer; 
And wise as bold, and good as wise; 
The magnet of a thousand eyes. 
That on his form and features cast. 



COLUMBUS. 71 

His noble mien and simple guise, 

In wonder seemed to look their last. 
A form which conscious worth is gracing, 
A face where hope, the lines effacing 

Of thought and care, bestowed, in truth, 
To the quick eyes' imperfect tracing 

The look and air of youth. 

The signal given, with hasty strides 

The sailors line their ships' dark sides. 

Their anchors weighed, and from the shore 

Each stately vessel slowly bore. 

High o'er the deep and shadowed flood. 

Upon his deck their leader stood, 

And turned him to departed land, 

And bowed his head and waved his hand. 

And then, along the crowded strand, 

A sound of many sounds combined. 

That waxed and waved upon the wind, 

Burst like heaven's thunder, deep and grand; 

A lengthened peal, which paused, and then 

Renewed, like that which loathly parts. 
Oft on the ear returned again, 

The impulse of a thousand hearts. 
But as the lengthened shouts subside, 

Distincter accents strike the ear. 
Wafting across the current wide 

Heart-uttered words of parting cheer: 
" Oh, shall we ever see again 
Those gallant souls across the main? 
God keep the brave! God be their guide! 
God bear them safe through storm and tide! 
Their sails with favoring breezes swell! 
O brave Columbus, fare thee well! " — Ibid. 



72 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

THE NAVIGATOR AND THE ISLANDS. 

Maturin Murray Ballou, American author. Compiler of " Pearls 
of Tliouglit" and similar works. Born in Boston, Mass., April 
14, 1822. From "Due South," published by Houghton, Mifflin 
& Co., Boston, 1887. 

The name of Columbus flashes a bright ray over the 
mental darkness of the period in which he lived, for the 
world was then but just awakening from the dull sleep of 
the Middle Ages. The discovery of printing heralded the 
new birth of the republic of letters, and maritime enter- 
prise received a vigorous impulse. The shores of the 
Mediterranean, thoroughly explored and developed, had 
endowed the Italian states with extraordinary wealth, and 
built up a very respectable mercantile marine. The Por- 
tuguese mariners were venturing farther and farther from 
the peninsula, and traded with many distant ports on the 
extended coast of Africa. 

To the west lay what men supposed to be an illimitable 
ocean, full of mystery, peril, and death. A vague concep- 
tion that islands hitherto unknown might be met afar off 
on that strange wilderness of waters was entertained by 
some minds, but no one thought of venturing in search of 
them. Columbus alone, regarded merely as a brave and 
intelligent seaman and pilot, conceived the idea that the 
earth was spherical, and that the East Indies, the great El 
Dorado of the century, might be reached by circumnavi- 
gating the globe. If we picture to ourselves the mental 
condition of the age and the state of science, we shall 
find no difficulty in conceiving the scorn and incredulity 
with which the theory of Columbus was received. We 
shall not wonder that he was regarded as a madman or a 
fool; we are not surprised to remember that he encount- 
ered repulse upon repulse as he journeyed wearily from 
court to court, and pleaded in vain to the sovereigns of 



COLUMBUS. 73 

Europe for aid to prosecute his great design. The marvel 
is that when door after door was closed against him, when 
all ears were deaf to his earnest importunities, when day 
by day the opposition to his views increased, when, weary 
and footsore, he was forced to beg a bit of bread and a cup 
of water for his fainting and famishing boy at the door of a 
Spanish convent, his reason did not give way, and his great 
heart did not break with disappointment. 



THE FIRST AMERICAN MONUMENT TO COLUMBUS. 
From an article in the Baltimore American. 

To a patriotic Frenchman and to Baltimore belongs the 
credit of the erection of the first monument to the memory 
of Christopher Columbus. This shaft, though unpreten- 
tious in height and material, is the first ever erected in the 
"Monumental City" or in the whole United States. The 
monument was put up on his estate by Charles Francis 
Adrian le Paulmier, Chevalier d'Amour. The property is 
now occupied by the Samuel Ready Orphan Aslyum, at 
North and Hartford avenues. It passed into the hands of 
the trustees from the executors of the late Zenus Barnum's 
will. 

It has ever been a matter of surprise, particularly among 
tourists, that among the thousand and one monuments 
which have been put up in the United States to the illus- 
trious dead, that the daring navigator who first sighted an 
island which was part of a great continent which 400 years 
later developed into the first nation of the world, should 
be so completely and entirely overlooked. It is on record 
that the only other monument in the world, up to 1863, 
which has been erected in the honor of Columbus is in 
Genoa. There is no authoritative account of the construc- 
tion of the Baltimore moaument. The fact that it was built 



74 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

in honor of Columbus is substantial, as the following 
inscription on the shaft shows: 

Sacred 

to the 

Memory 

of 

CHRIS. 

COLUMBUS, 

Oct. XII, 
MDCC Vine. 

It can be seen that the numerals are engrossed in the old 
English style, and show eight less than 1800, or 1792, and 
the date October 12th. The shaft towers among the 
boughs of a great oak tree which, like itself, has stood the 
storms and winds of nearly a hundred years. It has seen 
Baltimore develop from a little colonial town to a great 
city. The existence of the monument, strange to say, was 
known to only a few persons until the opening of North 
Avenue through the Barnum estate about twelve years ago. 
It looms up about fifty feet, and is attractive. Tradition says 
that it is built of brick which was brought from England, 
and covered with mortar or cement. At any rate it is sub- 
stantial, and likely to stand the ravages of time for many 
more years. The Samuel Ready estate is on the east side 
of the Hartford turnpike and fronts on North Avenue. 
The old-fashioned country house, which was built many 
years ago, was occupied by the proprietor of Baltimore's 
famous hostelry, and is still in use. It is occupied by girls 
who are reared and educated by money left by the philan- 
thropist Samuel Ready. Forty or fifty years ago the elder 
David Barnum resided there. 

In the southeast corner of the beautiful inclosure stands 
the monument. It is on an elevated terraced plateau. The 
plaster or cement coating is intact, and the inscription is 
plain. The shaft is quadrangular in form, sloping from a 
base six feet six inches in diameter to about two feet and a 



COLUMBUS. ' 75 

half at the top, which is a trifle over fifty feet from the 
ground. The pedestal comprises a base about thirty inches 
high, with well-rounded corners of molded brick work. 
The pedestal proper is five feet six inches in diameter, ten 
feet in height, and a cornice, ornamental in style, about 
three feet in height. From this rises a tapering shaft of 
about twenty-eight feet. The whole is surmounted by a 
capstone eighteen inches high. Three stories are told 
about the monument. 

Here is the first: Among the humble people who have 
lived in that section for years the legend is that the monu- 
ment was erected to the memory of a favorite horse owned 
by the old Frenchman who was the first French consul to 
the United States. For years it was known as the "Horse 
Monument," and people with imaginative brains conjured 
up all sorts of tales, and retailed them ad lib. These 
stories were generally accepted without much inquiry as to 
their authenticity. 

This, however, is the true story: Gen. D' Amour, who was 
the first representative sent to the colonies from France, 
was extremely wealthy. He was a member of a society 
founded to perpetuate the memory of Columbus in his own 
land. 

It IS said that Gen D'Amour came to America with Count 
de Grasse, and after the fall of Yorktown retired to this 
city, where he remained until he was recalled to France in 
1797. His reason for erecting the monument was because 
of his admiration for Columbus' bravery in the face of 
apparent failure. Tradition further says that one evening 
in the year 1792, while he was entertaining a party of guests, 
the fact that it was then the tri-centennial of the discov- 
ery of America was the topic of conversation. During the 
evening it was mentioned incidentally that there was not 
in this whole country a monument to commemorate the 



76 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

deeds of Columbus. Thereupon, Gen. D'Amour is said to 
have made a solemn vow that this neglect should be imme- 
diately remedied by the erection of an enduring shaft upon 
his own estate. 

He bought the property around where the monument 
now stands, and lived in grand style, as befitted a man of 
his wealth and position. He entertained extensively. It 
is said that Lafayette was dined and feted by the French- 
man in the old brick house which is still standing behind 
the mansion. In the year and on the date which marked 
the 300th anniversary of the discovery of America 
the monument was unveiled. The newspapers in those 
days were not enterprising, and the journals published at 
that time do not mention the fact. Agam, it is said that 
D'Amour died at the old mansion, and many people believe 
that his body was interred near the base of the shaft. It 
is related that about forty years ago two Frenchmen came 
to this country and laid claims on the property, which had, 
after the Frenchman's death, passed into other hands. 
The claim was disputed because of an unsettled mortgage 
on it, and they failed to prove their title. They tried to dis- 
cover the burial-place of the former owner. In this they 
also failed, although large rewards were offered to encourage 
people to aid them in their search. It is said that an ingen- 
ious Irishman in the neighborhood undertook to earn the 
reward, and pointed out a grave in an old Quaker burying- 
ground close by. 

The grave was opened and the remains exhumed. Exam- 
ination proved the bones those of a colored man. Old 
Mrs. Reilly, who was the wife of famous old Barnum's 
Hotel hackman Reilly, used to say that some years 
after the two Frenchmen had departed there came another 
mysterious Frenchman, who sat beside the monument 
for weeks, pleading to the then owners for permission to 



COLUMBUS. 77 

dig in a certain spot hard by. He was refused. Nothing 
daunted, he waited an opportunity and, when the coast was 
clear, he dug up a stone slab, which he had heard was to be 
found, and carried away the remains of a pet cat which 
had been buried there. 

Frequent inquiries were made of Mr. Samuel H. Tagart, 
who was the trustee in charge of the estate of Zenus Bar- 
num, in regard to the old Frenchman. Antiquarians all 
over the country made application for permission to dig 
beneath the monument, and to remove the tablet from the 
face of the shaft. He felt, however, that he could not do it, 
and refused all requests. 

Early in the present century the Samuel Ready estate 
was owned by Thomas Tenant — in those days a wealthy, 
influential citizen. One of his daughters, now dead, became 
the wife of Hon. John P. Kennedy. Another daughter, who 
lived in New York, and who is supposed to be dead, paid 
a visit in 1878 to the old homestead, and sat beneath the 
shadow of the Columbus monument. She stated that the 
shaft has stood in her early girlhood as it stands now. 
It was often visited by noted Italians and Frenchmen, 
who seemed to have heard of the existence of the monu- 
ment in Europe. She repeated the story of the wealthy 
Frenchman, and told of some of his eccentricities, and 
said he had put up the monument at a cost of ;^8oo, 
or $4,000. 

The old land records of Baltimore town were examined 
by a representative of the American as far back as 1787. 
It appears that in that year Daniel Weatherly and his wife, 
Elizabeth; Samuel Wilson and wife, Hannah; Isaac Pen- 
nington and Jemima, his wife, and William Askew and Jon- 
athan Rutter assigned to Rachel Stevenson four lots of 
ground, comprising the estate known as " Hanson's Woods," 
" Darley Hall," " Rutter's Discovery," and "Orange." 



78 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

Later, in 1787 and 1788, additional lots were received from 
one Christopher Hughes, and in the following year the 
entire estate was assigned by Rachel Stevenson to Charles 
Francis Adrian le Paulmier, Chevalier d'Amour, the French 
consul, the eccentric Frenchman, and the perpetuator of 
Columbus' memory in Baltimore. 

The property remained in his possession up to 1796, 
when Archibald Campbell purchased it. In the year 1800 
James Hindman bought it, and retained possession until 
1802, when James Carere took hold. Thomas Tenant pur- 
chased the estate in 1809. At his death, in 1830, it 
changed hands several times, and was finally bought by 
David Barnum, about 1833. At his death, in 1854, the 
estate passed into the hands of Samuel AV. McClellan, 
then to Zenus Barnum, and subsequently fell to his heirs, 
Dr. Zenus Barnum, Arthur C. Barnum, Annie and Maggie 
Barnum. After much litigation, about four years ago the 
estate passed into possession of the executors of Samuel 
Ready's will, and they have turned the once tumbled-down, 
deserted place into a beautiful spot. All the families 
mentioned have relatives living in this city now. In all the 
changes of time and owners, the monument to Columbus 
has remained intact, showmg that it is always the fittest that 
survives, and that old things are best. 

Mr. E. G. Ferine, one of the officers of the Samuel Ready 
Orphan Asylum, has collected most of the data relating to 
the monument. 

THE ITALIAN STATUE. 

The Italian citizens resident in Baltimore propose to 
donate a magnificent statue of Columbus to the " Monu- 
mental City," in commemoration of the 400th anniversary 
of the discovery of America. 



COLUMBUS. 79 

COLUMBUS — THE FULFILLER OF PROPHECY. 

Ge(1Rge Bancroft, Ph. D., LL D., D. C. L., America's premier histo- 
rian. Born at Worcester, Mass . October 3, 1800; died January 
17, 1891. From " The History of the United States." 

Imagination had conceived the idea that vast inhabited 
regions lay unexplored in the west; and poets had declared 
that empires beyond the ocean would one day be revealed 
to the daring navigator. But Columbus deserves the 
undivided glory of having realized that belief. 

The writers of to-day are disposed to consider Magellan's 
voyage a greater feat than that of Columbus. I can not 
agree with them. Magellan was doubtless a remarkable 
man, and a very bold man. But when he crossed the 
Pacific Ocean he knew he must come to land at last; 
whereas Columbus, whatever he may have heard concern- 
ing lands to the west, or whatever his theories may have 
led him to expect, must still have been in a state of uncer- 
tainty—to say nothing of the superstitious fears of his 
companions, and probably his own. 

********* 

The enterprise of Columbus, the most memorable mari- 
time enterprise in the history of the world, formed between 
Europe and America the communication which will never 
cease. The story of the colonization of America by North- 
men rests on narratives mythological in form and 
obscure in meaning; ancient, yet not contemporary. The 
intrepid mariners who colonized Greenland could easily 
have extended their voyages to Labrador and have 
explored the coasts to the south of it. No clear historic 
evidence establishes the natural probability that they 
accomplished the passage; and no vestige of their presence 
on our continent has been found. 



80 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

Nearly three centuries before the Christian era, Aristotle, 
following the lessons of the Pythagoreans, had taught that 
the earth is a sphere, and that the water which bounds Europe 
on the west washes the eastern shores of Asia. Instructed 
by him, the Spaniard Seneca believed that a ship, with a 
fair wind, could sail from Spain to the Indies in the space 
of a very few days. The opinion was revived in the Mid- 
dle Ages by Averroes, the Arab commentator of Aristotle; 
science and observation assisted to confirm it; and poets 
of ancient and of more recent times had foretold that 
empires beyond the ocean would one day be revealed to 
the daring navigator. The genial country of Dante and 
Buonarotti gave birth to Christopher Columbus, by whom 
these lessons were so received and weighed that he gained 
the glory of fulfilling the prophecy. 



COLUMBUS THE MARINER. 

Hubert IIcnvE Bancroft, an American historian. Born at Granville, 
Ohio, 1S32. 

As a mariner and discoverer Columbus had no superior; 
as a colonist and governor he proved himself a failure. 
Had he been less pretentious and grasping, his latter days 
would have been more peaceful. Discovery was his infat- 
uation; but he lacked practical judgment, and he brought 
upon himself a series of calamities. 



A COLUMBUS BANK NOTE. 

Since the Postofifice Department has decided to issue a 
set of stamps in honor of Columbus, it has been suggested 
that a Columbus bank note would also be in good taste at 
this time. Chief Meredith, of the Bureau of Engraving 
and Printing, originated the latter idea and will lay it before 
Secretary Foster when he returns to his desk at the Treas- 








COLUMBUS MONUMENT, PASEO COLON, BARCELONA, SPAIN. 

Dedicated May 2, 1888. 

(See page 81 .) 



COLUMBUS. 81 

ury. Issuing a whole set of Columbian notes would involve 
not only a great deal of preparation but cost as well, and 
hence it is proposed to choose one of the smaller denomi- 
nations, probably the $i note, for the change. There is 
an engraving of Columbus in the bureau made by Burt, 
who was considered the finest vignette engraver in the 
country. It is a full-face portrait, representing Columbus 
with a smooth face and wearing a brigandish-looking hat. 



THE BARCELONA STATUE. 

The historic Muralla del Mar (sea wall) of Barcelona has 
been effaced during the progress of harbor improvements, 
and its place supplied by a wide and handsome quay, which 
forms a delightful promenade, is planted with palms, and 
has been officially named the Paseo de Colon (Columbus 
Promenade). Here, at the foot of the Rambla in the Plaza 
de la Paz, is a marble statue of Columbus. 

This magnificent monument, erected in honor of the 
great Genoese mariner, was unveiled on May 2, 1888, in the 
presence of the Queen Regent, King Alfonzo XIII. of 
Spain, and the royal family; Senor Sagasta, President of 
the Council of Ministers, the chief Alcalde of Barcelona, 
many other Spanish notables, and the officers of the many 
European and American men-of-war then in the port of 
Barcelona. 

It was dedicated amid the thunders of more than 5,000 
guns and the salutes of battalions of brave seamen. The 
ceremony was such and so imposing as to be without a 
parallel in the history of any other part of the world. 

The following ships of war, at anchor in the harbor of 
Barcelona, boomed out their homage to the First Admiral 
of the Shadowy Sea, and, landing detachments of officers, 
seamen, and marines, took part in the inauguration cere- 
monies. 

6 



82 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

American — United States steamship Winnebago. 

Austrian — The imperial steamships Tegethoff, Custozz, 
Prinz Eugen, Kaiser Max, Kaiser John of Austria, Meteor, 
Panther, and Leopard. 

British — H. M. S. Alexandra, Dreadnought, Colossus, 
Thunderer, and Phaeton, and torpedo boats 99, 100, loi, 
and 108. 

Dutch — The Johann Wilhelm Friso. 

French — The Colbert, Duperre, Courbet, Devastation, 
Redoubtable, Indomptable, Milan, Condor, Falcon, the 
dispatch boat Coulevrine, and six torpedo boats. 

German — The imperial vessel Kaiser. 

Italian — The royal vessels Etna, Salta, Goito, Vesuvius, 
Archimedes, Tripoli, Folgore, Castellfidardo, Lepanto, and 
Italia. 

Portuguese — The Vasco da Gama. 

Russian — The Vestruch and Zabiaca. 

Spanish — The Numancia, Navarra, Gerona, Castilla, 
Blanca, Destructor, Pilar, and Pil^s. 

DESCRIPTION OF THE MONUMENT. 

The monument was cast in the workshops of A. Wohlge- 
muth, engineer and constructor of Barcelona, and was made 
in eight pieces, the base weighing 3 1^ tons. The first section, 
22^ tons; the second, 24^ tons; the third, 23-^ tons; the 
fourth, 23^ tons; the capital, 29^ tons; the templete, 13^ 
tons; the globe, 15^ tons; the bronze ornaments, \Ty\ tons; 
the statue of Columbus, 41 tons; the pedestal of the column,. 
31^ tons; the total weight of bronze employed in the column 
being 210-^ tons; its height, 198 feet. 

The total cost of the monument amounted to 1,000,000 
pesetas. Of these, 350,000 were collected by public sub- 
scription, and the remaining 650,000 pesetas were con- 
tributed by the city of Barcelona. 



COLUMBUS. 83 

The monument is 198 feet in height, and is ascended 
by means of an hydraulic elevator; five or six persons have 
room to stand on the platform. On the side facing the sea 
there opens a staircase of a single flight, which leads to a 
small resting room richly ornamented, and lit by a skylight, 
which contains the elevator. The grand and beautiful 
city of Barcelona, the busiest center of industry, commerce, 
and shipping, and mart of the arts and sciences, is not likely 
to leave in oblivion he who enriched the Old World with a 
new one, opening new arteries of trade which immensely 
augmented its renowned commercial existence; and less is 
it likely to forget that the citizens of Barcelona who were 
contemporaneous with Columbus were among the first to 
greet the unknown mariner when he returned from Amer- 
ica, for the first time, with the enthusiasm which his colossal 
discovery evoked. 

If for this alone, in one of her most charming squares, 
in full view of the ocean whose bounds the immortal sailor 
fixed and discovered, they have raised his statue upon a 
monument higher than the most celebrated ones of the 
earth. This statue, constructed under the supervision of 
the artist Don Cayetano Buigas, is composed of a base 
one meter in height and twenty meters wide, and of three 
sections. The first part is a circular section, eighteen 
meters in diameter, ten feet in height; it is composed of 
carved stone with interspersed bas-reliefs in bronze, repre- 
senting episodes in the life of Columbus. 

The second story takes the form of a cross, and is of the 
height of thirty-three feet, being of carved stone decorated 
with bronzes. On the arms of the cross are four female 
figures, representing Catalonia, Aragon, Castille, and Leon, 
and in the angles of the same are figures of Father Boyle, 
Santangel, Margarite and Ferrer de Blanes. 

On the sides of the cross are grouped eight medallions of 



84 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

bronze, on which are placed the busts of Isabella I., 
Ferdinand V., Father Juan Flores, Andres de Cabrera, 
Padre Juan de la Marchena, the Marchioness of Moya, 
Martin Pinzon, and his brother, Vicente Yafiez Pinzon. 

This section upholds the third part of the monument, 
which takes the form of an immense globe, on top of which 
stands the statue of Columbus, a noble conception of a 
great artist, grandly pointing toward the conquered con- 
fines of the Mysterious Sea.^*^ 



LEGEND OF A WESTERN LAND. 

Rev. Sabine Baring-Gould, vicar of Looe Trenchard, Devonshire, 
England. Born at Exeter, England, 1834. An antiquarian, 
archaeological and historical writer, no mean poet, and a nov- 
elist. From his " Curious Myths of the Middle Ages." 

According to a Keltic legend, in former days there lived 
in Skerr a Druid of renown. He sat with his face to the 
west on the shore, his eye following the declining sun, and 
he blamed the careless billows which tumbled between him 
and the distant Isle of Green. One day, as he sat musing 
on a rock, a storm arose on the sea; a cloud, under whose 
squally skirts the foaming waters tossed, rushed suddenly 
into the bay, and from its dark womb emerged a boat with 
white sails bent to the wind and banks of gleaming oars 
on either side. But it was destitute of mariners, itself 
seeming to live and move. An unusual terror seized on 
the aged Druid; he heard a voice call, " Arise, and see the 
Green Isle of those who have passed away! " Then he 
entered the vessel. Immediately the wind shifted, the 
cloud enveloped him, and in the bosom of the vapor he 

^* For the above interesting particulars, and for the artistic illustration 
of this beautiful statue, the compiler desires to record his sincere obliga- 
tions to the courteous kindness of Mr. William G. Williams of Ruther- 
ford, N. J. 



COLUMBUS. 85 

sailed away. Seven days gleamed on him through the 
mist; on the eighth, the waves rolled violently, the vessel 
pitched, and darkness thickened around him, when sud- 
denly he heard a cry, "The Isle! the Isle!" The clouds 
parted before him, the waves abated, the wind died away, 
and the vessel rushed into dazzling light. Before his eyes 
lay the Isle of the Departed, basking in golden light. Its 
hills sloped green and tufted with beauteous trees to the 
shore, the mountain tops were enveloped in bright and 
transparent clouds, from which gushed limpid streams, 
which, wandering down the steep hill-sides with pleasant 
harp-like murmur emptied themselves into the twinkling 
blue bays. The valleys were open and free to the ocean; 
trees loaded with leaves, which scarcely waved to the light 
breeze, were scattered on the green declivities and rising 
ground; all was calm and bright; the pure sun of autumn 
shone from his blue sky on the fields; he hastened not to 
the west for repose, nor was he seen to rise in the east, but 
hung as a golden lamp, ever illumining the Fortunate 
Isles. 

LEGEND OF A WESTERN ISLAND. 

There is a Phoenician legend that a large island was dis- 
covered in the Atlantic Ocean, beyond the Pillars of Her- 
cules, several days' sail from the coast of Africa. This 
island abounded in all manner of riches. The soil was 
exceedingly fertile; the scenery was diversified by rivers, 
mountains, and forests. It was the custom of the inhab- 
itants to retire during the summer to magnificent country 
houses, which stood in the midst of beautiful gardens. 
Fish and game were found in great abundance, the climate 
was delicious, and the trees bore fruit at all seasons of the 
year.— /<^/^. 



86 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

COLUMBUS AN IDEAL COMMANDER. 

Joel Barlow, American poet, patriot, and politician. Born at Read- 
ing, Conn., 1755; died near Cracow, in Poland, 1812 From 
the introduction to " Columbiad " (1S07). 

Every talent requisite for governing, soothing, and tem- 
pering the passions of men is conspicuous in the conduct 
of Columbus on the occasion of the mutiny of his crew. 
The dignity and affability of his manners, his surprising 
knowledge and experience in naval affairs, his unwearied 
and minute attention to the duties of his command, gave 
him a great ascendancy over the minds of his men, and 
inspired that degree of confidence which would have main- 
tained his authority in almost any circumstances. 

man's INGRATITUDE. 

Long had the sage, the first who dared to brave 

The unknown dangers of the western wave; 

Who taught mankind where future empires lay 

In these confines of descending day; 

With cares o'erwhelmed, in life's distressing gloom, 

Wish'd from a thankless world a peaceful tomb, 

While kings and nations, envious of his name, 

Enjoyed his toils and triumphed o'er his fame, 

And gave the chief, from promised empire hurl'd, 

Chains for a crown, a prison for a world. 

— Barlow^ " Columbus " (1787). 

( 

"ONLY THE ACTIONS OF THE JUST." 

Ages unborn shall bless the happy day 
When thy bold streamers steer'd the trackless way. 
O'er these delightful realms thy sons shall tread. 
And following millions trace the path you led. 
Behold yon isles, where first the flag unfurled 



COLUMBUS. 87 

Waved peaceful triumph o'er the new-found world. 
Where, aw'd to silence, savage bands gave place, 
And hail'd with joy the sun-descended race. 

— Barloiv,'^ The Vision of Columbus," 
a poem in nine books (1787). 

QUEEN Isabella's death. 
Truth leaves the world and Isabella dies. 



—Ibid. 



COLUMBUS CHAINS HIS CROWN. 



I sing the mariner who first unfurl'd 
An eastern banner o'er the western world. 
And taught mankind where future empires lay 
In these fair confines of descending day; 
Who swayed a moment, with vicarious power, 
Iberia's scepter on the new-found shore; 
Then saw the paths his virtuous steps had trod 
Pursued by avarice and defiled with blood; 
The tribes he fostered with paternal toil 
Snatched from his hand and slaughtered for their 

spoil. 
Slaves, kings, adventurers, envious of his name, 
Enjoyed his labors and purloined his fame, 
And gave the viceroy, from his high seat hurl'd. 
Chains for a crown, a prison for a world. 
— Barlow, The " Columbiad," Book i; lines 1-14. 

PROPHETIC VISIONS URGED COLUMBUS ON. 

The bliss of unborn nations warm'd his breast, 
Repaid his toils, and sooth'd his soul to rest; 
Thus o'er thy subject wave shall thou behold 
Far happier realms their future charms unfold. 
In nobler pomp another Pisgah rise, 



88 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

Beneath whose foot thy new-found Canaan lies. 
There, rapt in vision, hail my favorite clime 
And taste the blessings of remotest time. 

— Barlow, The "Columbiad," Book i; lines 176-184. 

COLUMBUS, THE PATHFINDER OF THE SHADOWY SEA. 

He opened calm the universal cause 
To give each realm its limit and its laws, 
Bid the last breath of tired contention cease, 
And bind all regions in the leagues of peace. 

To yon bright borders of Atlantic day 
His swelling pinions led the trackless way, 
And taught mankind such useful deeds to dare, 
To trace new seas and happy nations rear; 
Till by fraternal hands their sails unfurled 
Have waved at last in union o'er the world. 

—Ibid. 



RELIGIOUS OBJECT OF COLUMBUS. 

J. J. Barry, M. D., " Life of Columbus." 

The first object of the discovery, disengaged from every 
human consideration, was the glorification of the Redeemer 
and the extension of His Church. 

THE NOBILITY OF COLUMBUS IN ADVERSITY. 

The accumulations of his reverses exceed human pro- 
portions. His misfortunes almost surpass his glory. Still 
this man does not murmur. He accuses, he curses nobody; 
and does not regret that he was born. The people of 
ancient times would never have conceived this type of a 
hero. Christianity alone, whose creation he was, can com- 
prehend him. * * * The example of Columbus shows 
that nobody can completely obtain here below the objects 



COLUMBUS. 89 

of his desires. The man who doubled the known space of 
the earth was not able to attain his object; he proposed to 
himself much more than he realized. — Ibid. 



COLUMBUS BELL. 

The congregation of the little colored church at Haley- 
ville, m Cumberland County, N. J., contributes an interest- 
ing historical relic to the World's Fair. It is the bell that 
has for years called them to church. In the year 1445, the 
bell, it is said, hung in one of the towers of the famous 
mosque at the Alhambra. After the siege of Granada, the 
bell was taken away by the Spanish soldiers and presented 
to Queen Isabella, who, in turn, presented it to Columbus, 
who brought it to America on his fourth voyage and pre- 
sented it to a community of Spanish monks who placed it 
in the Cathedral of Carthagena, on the Island of New 
Granada. In 1697 buccaneers looted Carthagena, and car- 
ried the bell on board the French pirate ship La Rochelle, 
but the ship was wrecked on the Island of St. Andreas 
shortly afterward, and the wreckers secured the bell as part 
of their salvage. Capt. Newell of Bridgeton purchased it, 
brought it to this country, and presented it to the colored 
congregation of the Haleyville church. The bell weighs 
sixty-four pounds, and is of fine metal. 



THE PERSONAL APPEARANCE OF COLUMBUS. 

Geronimo Benzon'i of Milan, Italy. Born about 1520. From his 
" History of the New World" (1565). 

He was a man of a good, reasonable stature, with sound, 
strong limbs; of good judgment, high talent, and gentle- 
manlike aspect. His eyes were bright, his hair red, his 
nose aquiline, his mouth somewhat large; but above all he 
was a friend to justice, though rather passionate when 
angry. 



90 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

WESTWARD religion's BANNERS TOOK THEIR WAY. 

The Right Rev. George Berkeley, Bishop of Cloyne, Ireland. Born 
at Kilcrin, Kilkenny, March 12, 1684; died at Oxford, England, 
January 14, 1754. The author of the celebrated line, "West- 
ward the course of Empire takes its way." 

But all things of heavenly origin, like the glorious sun, 
move westward; and Truth and Art have their periods of 
shining and of night. Rejoice, then, O venerable Rome, in 
thy divine destiny! for, though darkness overshadow thy 
seats, and though thy mitred head must descend into the 
dust, thy spirit, immortal and undecayed, already spreads 
toward a new world. 



COLUMBUS NO CHANCE COMER. 

The Hon. James Gillespie Blaine, one of America's leading states- 
men. Born in Washington County, Pa., in 1830. 

Columbus was no chance comer. The time was full. He 
was not premature; he was not late. He came in accord- 
ance with a scientifically formed if imperfect theory, 
whether his own or another's — a theory which had a logical 
foundation, and which projected logical sequences. 
* * * Had not Columbus discovered America in 
1492, a hundred Columbuses would have discovered it in 
1493- 



THE CERTAIN CONVICTIONS OF COLUMBUS. 

Baron Bonnafoux, a French author. From " La Vie de Christophe 
Colombe" (1853). 

He was as certain of the truth of his theory as if he had 
seen and trodden on the very ground which his imagi- 
nation had called into existence. * * * There was an 
air of authority about him, and a dignity in his manner, 
that struck all who saw him. He considered himself, on 
principle, above envy and slander, and in calm and serious 



COLUMBUS. 91 

discussion always had the superiority in argument on the 
subjects of his schemes. To refuse to assist him in his 
projects was one thing; but it was impossible to reply to 
his discourse in refutation of- his arguments, and, above 
all, not to respect him. 



THE COLUMBUS OF MODERN TIMES. 
From an editorial in the '&osXon Journal, July 13, 1892. 

When John Bright, in Parliament, shortly after the suc- 
cessful laying of the Atlantic cable, called Cyrus W. Field 
the Columbus of modern times, he made no inappropriate 
comparison. Mr. Field, in the early days of the great 
undertaking that has made his name immortal, had to con- 
tend against the same difficulties as the intrepid Genoese. 
The lineal descendants of the fifteenth century pundits, 
who vexed the soul of Columbus by insisting that the 
world was flat, were very sure that a cable could never be 
laid across the boisterous Atlantic; that sea monsters would 
bite it off and huge waves destroy it. Both men finally 
prevailed over a doubting world by sheer force of indomi- 
table enthusiasm. 

Many men in Mr. Field's place, having amassed a fortune 
comparatively early in life, would have devoted themselves 
to ease and recreation. But there was too much of the 
New England spirit of restless energy in Mr. Field to per- 
mit him to pass the best years of his life thus ingloriously. 
The great thought of his cable occurred to him, and he 
became a man of one fixed idea, and ended by becoming a 
popular hero. No private American citizen, probably, has 
received such distinguished honors as Mr. Field when his 
cable was laid in 1867, and the undertaking of his lifetime 
was successfully accomplished. And Mr. Field was hon- 
estly entitled to all the glory and to all the financial profit 



93 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

that he reaped. His project was one that only a giant 
mind could conceive, and a giant mind and a giant will 
could carry on to execution. 

As if to make the parallel with Columbus complete, 
Mr. Field passed his last few days under the heavy shadow 
of misfortune. His son's failure, and the sensational 
developments attending it, were probably the occasion of 
his fatal illness. It is a melancholy termination of a 
remarkable career to which the nations of the earth owe a 
vast debt of gratitude. 

Chicago Tribune, July 13, 1892. 

The story of the twelve years' struggle to lay an Atlantic 
cable from Ireland to Newfoundland is the story of one of 
the greatest battles with the fates that any one man was 
ever called on to wage. It was a fight not only against 
the ocean, jealous of its rights as a separator of the conti- 
nents, and against natural obstacles which seemed absolutely 
unsurpassable, but a fight against stubborn Parliaments and 
Congresses, and all the stumbling blocks of human dis- 
belief. But the courage of Cyrus W. Field was indomi- 
table. His patience and zeal were inexhaustible, and so it 
came to pass, on July 27, 1866, that this man knelt down in 
his cabi?i, like a second Columbus, and gave thanks to God, 
for his labors were crow7ied with success at last. 

He had lost his health. He had worn out his nervous 
forces by the tremendous strain, and he paid in excruciating 
suffering the debt he owed to nature. But he had won a 
fortune and a lasting fame. 



THE BOSTON STATUE. 



In 1849 the Italian merchants of Boston, under the 
presidency of Mr. lasigi, presented to the city a statue of 



COLUMBUS. 93 

Columbus, which was placed inside the inclosure of Louis- 
burg Square, at the Pinckney Street end of the square. The 
statue, which is of inferior merit, bears no inscription, and 
is at the present date forgotten, dilapidated, and fast fall- 
ing into decay. 



YOU CAN NOT CONQUER AMERICA. 

Flavius J. Brobst in an article on Westminster Abbey, in tiie Mid- 
Continent Magazine, August, 1892. 

Sublimest of all, the incomparable Earl of Chatham, 
whose prophetic ken foresaw the independence of the 
American nation even before the battles of Lexington and 
Concord and Bunker Hill had been fought; and who, from 
the first, in Parliament, rose with his eagle beak, and raised 
his clarion voice with all the vehemence of his imperial 
soul in behalf of the American colonies, reaching once a 
climax of inspiration, when, in thunderous tones, he declared 
to the English nation, " You can not co?iquer America." 



THE INDOMITABLE COURAGE OF COLUMBUS. 

William C. Bryant, an eminent American poet. Born at Cummington, 
Mass., Novembers, 1794; died Junei2, 1878. From his " History 
of the United States." 

With a patience that nothing could wear out, and a perse- 
verance that was absolutely unconquerable, Columbus 
waited and labored for eighteen years, appealing to minds 
that wanted light and to ears that wanted hearing. His 
ideas of the possibilities of navigation were before his 
time. It was one thing to creep along the coast of Africa, 
where the hold upon the land need never be lost, another 
to steer out boldly into that wilderness of waters, over 
which mystery and darkness brooded. 



94 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

THE SANTA MARIA CARAVEL. 
J. W. BuEL, a celebrated American author. 
Oh, thou Santa Maria, thou famous remembrancer of the 
centuries! The names of none of those that sailed in 
search of the Golden Fleece are so well preserved among 
the eternities of history as is thine. No vessel of Rome, 
of Greece, of Carthage, of Egypt, that carried conquer- 
ing Caesar, triumphant Alexander, valiant Hannibal, or 
beauteous Cleopatra, shall be so well known to coming 
ages as thou art. No ship of the Spanish Armada, or of 
Lord Howard, who swept it from the sea; no looming 
monster; no Great Eastern or frowning ironclad of modern 
navies, shall be held like thee in perpetual remembrance 
by all the sons of men. For none ever bore such a hero on 
such a mission, that has glorified all nations by giving the 
greatest of all countries to the world. 



THE SCARLET THORN. 

John Burroughs, an American essayist and naturalist. Born at Rox- 
bury, New York, April 3, 1837. From a letter in the SL Nich- 
olas Magazine of July, 1892. (See post, Nason.) 

There are a great many species of the thorn distributed 
throughout the United States. All the Northern species, so 
far as I know, have white flowers. In the South they are more 
inclined to be pink or roseate. If Columbus picked up at 
sea a spray of the thorn, it was doubtless some Southern 
species. Let us believe it was the Washington thorn, which 
grows on the banks of streams from Virginia to the Gulf, 
and loads heavily with small red fruit. 

The thorn belongs to the great family of trees that 
includes the apple, peach, pear, raspberry, strawberry, etc., 
namely, the rose family, or Rosacece. Hence the apple, 
pear, and plum are often grafted on the white thorn. 

A curious thing about the thorns is that they are sup- 



COLUMBUS. 95 

pressed or abortive branches. The ancestor of this tree 
must have been terribly abused sometime to have its 
branches turn to thorns. 

I have an idea that persistent cultivation and good treat- 
ment would greatly mollify the sharp temper of the thorn, 
if not change it completely. 

The flower of the thorn would become us well as a 
National flower. It belongs to such a hardy, spunky, uncon- 
querable tree, and to such a numerous and useful family. 
Certainly, it would be vastly better than the merely delicate 
and pretty wild flowers that have been so generally named. 



CAPTAIN AND SEAMEN. 
Richard E. Burton, in the Denver (Colo.) Times, i8q2. 

I see a galleon of Spanish make. 

That westward like a winged creature flies, 
Above a sea dawn-bright, and arched with skies 

Expectant of the sun and morning-break. 

The sailors from the deck their land-thirst slake 
With peering o'er the waves, until their eyes 
Discern a coast that faint and dream-like lies, 

The while they pray, weep, laugh, or madly take 

Their shipmates in their arms and speak no word. 
And then I see a figure, tall, removed 
A little from the others, as behooved. 

That since the dawn has neither spoke nor stirred; 

A noble form, the looming mast beside, 

Columbus, calm, his prescience verified. 



THE BEAUTIES OF THE BAHAMA SEA. 

Hezekiah Butterworth, American author. Born in Rhode Island, 
1839. From an article, " The Sea of Discovery," in The Youth's 
Companion, June 9, 1892. 

The Bahama Sea is perhaps the most beautiful of all 



96 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

waters. Columbus beheld it and its islands with a poet's 
eye. 

"It only needed the singing of the nightingale," said the 
joyful mariner, "to make it like Andalusia in April;" and 
to his mind Andalusia was the loveliest place on earth. In 
sailing among these gardens of the seas in the serene and 
transparent autumn days after the great discovery, the soul 
of Columbus was at times overwhelmed and entranced by a 
sense of the beauty of everything in it and about it. Life 
seemed, as it were, a spiritual vision. 

"I know not," said the discoverer, " where first to go; 
nor are my eyes ever weary of gazing on the beautiful verd- 
ure. The singing of the birds is such that it seems as if 
one would never desire to depart hence." 

He speaks in a poet's phrases of the odorous trees, and 
of the clouds of parrots whose bright wings obscured the 
sun. His descriptions of the sea and its gardens are full of 
glowing and sympathetic colorings, and all things to him 
had a spiritual meaning. 

"God," he said, on reviewing his first voyage over these 
western waters, " God made me the messenger of the new 
heavens and earth, and told me where to find them. Charts, 
maps, and mathematical knowledge had nothing to do with 
the case." 

On announcing his discovery on his return, he breaks 
forth into the following highly poetic exhortation: "Let 
processions be formed, let festivals be held, let lauds be 
sung. Let Christ rejoice on earth." 

Columbus was a student of the Greek and Latin poets, 
and of the poetry of the Hebrew Scriptures. The visions of 
Isaiah were familiar to him, and he thought that Isaiah 
himself at one time appeared to him in a vision. He loved 
nature. To him the outer world was a garment of the 
Invisible; and it was before his great soul had suffered dis- 



S o 

;i o 



IB c -0 




Columbus. ^t 

appointment that he saw the sun-flooded waters of the 
Bahama Sea and the purple splendors of the Antilles. 

There \^ scarcely an adjective in the picturesque report 
of Columbus in regard to this sea and these islands that is 
not now as appropriate and fitting as in the days when its 
glowing words delighted Isabella 400 years ago. 



WHEN HISTORY DOES THEE WRONG. 

George Gordon Noel, Lord Byron, one of England's famous poets. 
Born in London, January 22, 1788; died at Missolonghi, Greece, 
April 19, 1824. 

Teems not each ditty with the glorious tale? 

Ah! such, alas, the hero's amplest fate. 
When granite molders and when records fail. 

Pride! bend thine eye from heaven to thine estate. 
See how the mighty shrink into a song. 

Can volume, pillar, pile, preserve thee great? 
Or must thou trust Tradition's simple tongue, 
When Flattery sleeps with thee, and History does 
thee wrong. 



CABOT S CONTEMPORANEOUS UTTERANCE. 

Sebastian Cabot, a navigator of great eminence. Born at Bristol, En- 
gland, about 1477. Discovered the mainland of North America. 
Died about 1557. 

Whennewes were brought that Don Christopher Colonus, 
the Genoese, had discovered the coasts of India, whereof 
was great talke in all the Court of King Henry the VII. 
who then raigned, * * * all men with great admiration 
affirmed it to be a thing more divine than humane to saile by 
the West into the Easte, where the spices growe, by a chart 
that was never before knowen. 
7 



98 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

THE CAPITULATIONS OF SANTA F^ — AGREEMENT OF CO- 
LUMBUS WITH FERDINAND AND ISABELLA. 

Sir Arthur Helps. From " The I>ife of Columbus." [See other extracts, 
post, sub nomine Heli's.] 

1. Christopher Columbus wishes to be made Admiral 
of the seas and countries which he is about to discover. 
He desires to hold this dignity during his life, and that it 
should descend to his heirs. 

This request is granted by the King and Queen. 

2. Christopher Columbus wishes to be made Viceroy of 
all the continents and islands. 

Granted by the King and Queen. 

3. He wishes to have a share amounting to a 
tenth part of the profits of all merchandise — be it pearls, 
jewels, or any other thing — that may be found, gained, 
bought, or exported from the countries which he is to dis- 
cover. 

Gra?ited by the King and Queen. 

4. He wishes, in his quality of Admiral, to be made sole 
judge of all mercantile matters that may be the occasion of 
dispute in the countries which he is to discover. 

Granted by the King and Queen, on condition that this Juris- 
diction should belong to the office of Admiral, as held by Don 
Enriques and other Admirals. 

5. Christopher Columbus wishes to have the right to con- 
tribute the eighth part of the expenses of all ships which 
trafific with the new countries, and in return to earn the 
eighth part of the profits. 

Granted by the King and Queen. 

Santa F6, in the Vega of Granada, April 17, 1492. 



COLUMBUS, 99 

COLUMBUS, THE SEA-KING. 

Thomas Carlyle, "the Sage of Chelsea," celebrated English philo- 
sophic writer. Born at Ecclefechan, Scotland, December 4, 1795; 
died at Cheyne walk, Chelsea, London, February 5, 1881. From 
" Past and Present." 

Brave Sea-captain, Norse Sea-king, Columbus, my hero, 
royalest Sea-king of all! it is no friendly environment this 
of thine, in the waste deep waters; around thee, mutinous, 
discouraged souls; behind thee, disgrace and ruin; before 
thee, the unpenetrated veil of Night. Brother, these wild 
water-mountains, bounding from their deep basin — ten 
miles deep, I am told — are not entirely there on thy behalf! 
Meseems they have other work than floating thee forward; 
and the huge winds that sweep from Ursa Major to the 
Tropics and Equator, dancing their giant waltz through 
the kingdoms of Chaos and Immensity, they care little 
about filling rightly or filling wrongly the small shoulder-of- 
mutton sails in this cockle-skiff of thine. Thou art not 
among articulate-speaking friends, my brother; thou art 
among immeasurable dumb monsters, tumbling, howling, 
wide as the world here. Secret, far off, invisible to all 
hearts but thine, there lies a help in them; see how thou 
wilt get at that. Patiently thou wilt wait till the mad 
southwester spend itself, saving thyself by dextrous science 
of defense the while; valiantly, with swift decision, wilt 
thou strike in, when the favoring east, the Possible, springs 
up. Mutiny of men thou wilt entirely repress; weakness, 
despondency, thou wilt cheerily encourage; thou wilt 
swallow down complaint, unreason, weariness, weakness of 
others and thyself. There shall be a depth of silence in 
thee deeper than this sea, which is but ten miles deep; a 
silence unsoundable, known to God only. Thou shalt 
be a great man. Yes, my World-soldier, thou wilt have to 
be greater than this tumultuous, unmeasured world here 



100 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

around thee; thou, in thy strong soul, as with wrestler's 
arms, shall embrace it, harness it down, and make it bear 
thee on — to new Americas. 



OUTBOUND. 
Bliss Carman, from a poem in the Century Magazine, 1892. 
A lonely sail in the vast sea-room, 
I have put out for the port of gloom. 

The voyage is far on the trackless tide, 
The watch is long, and the seas are wide. 

The headlands, blue in the sinking day. 
Kiss me a hand on the outward way. 

The fading gulls, as they dip and veer, 
Lift me a voice that is good to hear. 

The great winds come, and the heaving sea. 
The restless mother, is calling me. 

The cry of her heart is lone and wild, 
Searching the night for her wandered child. 

Beautiful, weariless mother of mine, 

In the drift of doom I am here, I am thine. 

Beyond the fathom of hope or fear. 
From bourn to bourn of the dusk I steer. 

Swept on in the wake of the stars, in the stream 
Of a roving tide, from dream to dream. 



THE TRIBUTES OF THE PHCENIX OF THE AGES. 

Lope de Vega Carpio, a celebrated Spanish poet and dramatist. Born 
at Madrid, November 25, 1562; died, 1635.'" 

''Lope de Vega has been variously termed the "Center of Fame," 
the " Darling of Fortune," and the " Phoenix of the Ages," by his admir- 
ing compatriots. His was a most fertile brain; his a most fecund pen. 
A single day sufficed to compose a versified drama. 



COLUMBUS, - 101 

Lope puts into the mouth of Columbus, in a dialogue 
with Ferdinand, who earnestly invites the discoverer to ask 
of him the wherewithal to prosecute the discovery, the fol- 
lowing verses: 

Sire, give me gold, for gold is all in all; 
'Tis master, 'tis the goal and course alike, 
The way, the means, the handicraft, and power. 
The sure foundation and the truest friend. 

Referring to the results of the great discovery, Lope 
beautifully says that it gave — 

A I Rey hifinitas terras 
V d Dtos inji^titas almas. 

(To the King boundless lands, and to God souls without 
number.) 



HERSCHEL, THE COLUMBUS OF THE SKIES. 
E. H. Chapin, American author of the nineteenth century. 
Man was sent into the world to be a growing and exhaust- 
less force; the world was spread out around him to be 
seized and conquered. Realms of infinite truth burst open 
above him, inviting him to tread those shining coasts along 
which Newton dropped his plummet and Herschel sailed, 
a Columbus of the skies. 



THE DISCOVERIES OF COLUMBUS AND AMERICUS. 
From Chicago Tribune, August, 1892. [See also ante, Boston /c/^rwa/.] 
The suggestion has been made by Mr. John Boyd 
Thacher, commissioner from New York to the World 's 
Fair, that a tribute be paid to the memory of Amerigo 
Vespucci by opening the Fair May 5, 1893, that benig the 
anniversary of America's christening day. Mr. Thacher's 
suggestion is based upon the fact that May 5, 1507, there 



102 . COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

was published at the College of Saint-Di6, in Lorraine, the 
"Cosmographic Introductio," by Waldseemull(;r, in which 
the name of America " for the fourth part of the world" 
(Europe, Asia, and Africa being the other three parts) was 
first advocated, in honor of Amerigo Vespucci. As Mr. 
Thacher's suggestion already has aroused considerable 
jealous opposition among the Italians of New York, who 
claim all the glory for Columbus, a statement of what was 
really discovered by the two great explorers will be of inter- 
est at the present time. 

No writer of the present day has shed a clearer light 
upon this question than John Fiske, and it may be incident- 
ally added, no student has done more that he to relieve 
Amerigo Vespucci from the reproach which has been fast- 
ened upon his reputation as an explorer, by critics, who, as 
Mr. Fiske clearly shows, have been misled by the sources 
of their authority and have judged him from erroneous 
standpoints. In making a statement of what the two 
explorers really discovered, the Tribune follows on the 
lines of Prof. Fiske's investigation as the clearest, most 
painstaking, and most authoritative that has yet been 
made. 

Christopher Columbus made four voyages. On the first 
he sailed from Palos, Friday, August 3, 1492, and Friday, 
October 12th (new style, October 21st), discovered land in 
the West Indies. It was one of the islands of the Bahamas, 
called by the natives Guanahani, and named by him San 
Salvador; which name, after the sevententh century, was 
applied to Cat Island, though which one of the islands is 
the true San Salvador is still a matter of dispute. 

After spending ten days among the Bahamas Columbus 
(October 25th) steered south and reached the great Island 
of Cuba. He cruised around the east coast of the big island, 
and December 6th landed at Haiti, another immense island. 



COLUMBUS. 103 

A succession of disasters ended his voyage and he there- 
upon returned to Spain, arriving there March 15, 1493. 

Columbus sailed on his second voyage September 25, 
1493, and November 3d landed at Dominica in the Caribbean 
Sea. During a two-weeks' cruise he discovered the islands 
of Marigalante, Guadaloupe, and Antigua, and lastly the 
large Island of Puerto Rico. April 24th he set out on 
another cruise of discovery. He followed the south coast 
of Cuba and came to Jamaica, the third largest of the West 
Indies, thence returning to Cuba, and from there to Spain, 
where he arrived June 11, 1494. On his third voyage he 
sailed May 30, 1498. Following a more southerly course, 
he arrived at Trinidad, and in coasting along saw the delta 
of the Orinoco River of South America and went into the 
Gulf of Paria. Thence he followed the north coast of Vene- 
zuela and finally arrived at Santo Domingo. 

The story of his arrest there is well known. He was 
taken in chains to Cadiz, Spain, arriving there in Decem- 
ber, 1500. 

On his fourth and last voyage he sailed May 11, 1502. 
On June 15th he was at Martinique. He touched at Santo 
Domingo, thence sailed across to Cape Honduras, doubled 
that cape, and skirted the coast of Nicaragua, where he 
heard of the Pacific Ocean, though the name had not its 
present meaning for him. It was during his attempt to 
find the Isthmus of Darien, which he thought was a strait 
of water, that he was shipwrecked on the coast of Jamaica. 
He remained there a year and then went back to Spain, 
reaching home November 7, 1504. It was the last voyage of 
the great navigator, and it will be observed that he never saw 
or stepped foot on the mainland of North America, though 
he saw South America in 1498, as stated. In 1506 he died 
in Spain. 

Amerigo Vespucci, like Columbus, made four voyages. 



104 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

some of the details of which are known. His letter, written 
to his friend Piero Soderini, September 4, 1504, gives us 
information concerning his famous first voyage. Hitherto 
the only copy of this letter known was a Latin translation 
of it published at the College of Saint-Di6, April 25, 1507, 
but the primitive text from which the translation was made 
has been found, and by that text Americus' reputation has 
been saved from the discredit critics and biographers have 
cast upon it, and his true laurels have been restored to him. 
The mistake of changing one word, the Indian name 
" Lariab," in the original, to " Parias," in the Latin version, 
is accountable for it all. The scene of his explorations is 
now transferred from Parias, in South America, to Lariab, 
in North America, and his entire letter is freed from mys- 
tery or inconsistency with the claims which have been made 
for him. 

It is now established beyond controversy that Americus 
sailed on the first voyage, not as commander, but as astron- 
omer, of the expedition, May 10, 1497, and first ran to the 
Grand Canaries. Leaving there May 25th, the first land- 
fall was on the northern coast of Honduras of North 
America. Thence he sailed around Yucatan and up the 
Mexican coast to Tampico (" Lariab," not " Parias "). 
After making some inland explorations he followed the 
coast line 870 leagues (2,610 miles), which would take him 
along our Southern gulf coast, around Florida, and north 
along the Atlantic coast until ''they found themselves in a 
fine harbor," Was this Charleston harbor or Hampton 
Roads? In any event, when he started back to Spain he 
sailed from the Atlantic coast somewhere between Capes 
Charles and Canaveral. The outcome of this voyage was 
the first discovery of Honduras, parts of the Mexican and 
Florida coasts, the insularity of Cuba — which Columbus 
thought was part of the mainland of Asia — and 4,000 miles 



COLUMBUS, 105 

of the coast line of North America. The remaining three 
voyages have no bearing upon North American discovery. 
On the second, he explored the northern coast of Brazil to 
the Gulf of Maracaibo; on the third, he went again to the 
Brazilian coast and found the Island of South Georgia, and 
on the fourth returned to Brazil, but without making any 
discoveries of importance. 

Mr. Fiske's luminous narrative lends significance to Mr. 
Thacher's suggestion, for Vespucci discovered a large por- 
tion of the mainland of the North American continent 
which Columbus had never seen. To this extent his first 
voyage gave a new meaning to Columbus' work, without 
diminishing, however, the glory of the latter's great 
achievement. Americus, indeed, had his predecessors, for 
John and Sebastian Cabot, sent out by Henry VII. of 
England a short time before his discovery, had set foot 
upon Labrador, and probably had visited Nova Scotia. 
And even before Cabot, the Northern Vikings, among them 
Leif Ericcson, had found their way to this continent and 
perhaps set up their Vineland in Massachusetts. And 
before the Vikings there may have been other migrants, 
and before the migrants the aborigines, who were the vic- 
tims of all the explorers from the Vikings to the Puritans. 
But their achievements had no meaning and left no results. 
As Prof. Fiske says: " In no sense was any real contact 
established between the eastern and western halves of our 
planet until the great voyage of Columbus in 1492." It 
was that voyage which inspired the great voyage of Ameri- 
cus in 1497. He followed the path marked out by Colum- 
bus, and he invested the latter's discovery with a new 
significance. Upon the basis of merit and historical fact, 
therefore, Mr. Thacher's suggestion deserves consideration; 
and why should Italians be jealous, when Christopher 
Columbus, Amerigo Vespucci, and John Cabot were all of 
Italian birth? 



|(»(i COMIMIiUS AND COM/MlilA. 

AI.I, WnHIN 'I I IK KKN OK COMJMHUS. 

1 1 VKi, CiAKKK, Vit;c-I'icsi(lcnl Koyal Ifisloiicil Society of Knj^Iand, in 
his " Kxamination of the Legend of Aliaiitis," etc. I-ondon; 
Longmans, (Irccn it Co., 1886. 

At the time when Coliiinbiis, as wv.W as otlicrs, was 
disciissiii;^ tlic siihjc* I of new lands to be discovered, liter- 
ary resources iuid l)ec()me available. 'I'lie Latin writers 
coidd l)e exatnined; but, above all, the fall of ("onstanti- 
noplc had driven nnnd)ers of (iret;ks into Italy, 'i'he 
(Ircck lan^iiaj^e was studied, and (ireek books were (;agerly 
bonj;ht iiy the T,atin nations, as before they had \)v.rn by 
the Arabs. 'I'hiis, all that had i)cen written as to the four 
worlds was within the ken of (!olund)iis. 



COl.DMr.US A lir.KK'I'IC AND A VISIONAKVIO HIS ( iON'IKM I'O- 

k A l< I I'.S. 

JamI'S I'KI'J'.man (!i,ai<k|' , ;ui American wiilci .iinl I Iiiil;ii i.ni iiiiiiisler. 
Horn ;it li.iiiover, N. II., in iHio, died ;ii j.iniaic.i Plain, June 
8, 18HR. 

We (hink of ( lolnnibns as the y^vv:i\ discovcrcM" of Amer- 
ica; we do not remember liiat his actual life was one of 
(H.sappoiiitment and failure. Even his discovery of Amer- 
ica was a disa|)|)oinl uient ; he was lookinj^ for India, and 
tiltcrly failed of this, lie made maps and sold them to 
su|)port his old father. Poverty, contumely, indi;.;nities of 
all sorts, met him wheicver he tinned. 1 1 is expectations 
wt'ie considered extravaj^ant, ins schemes futile; the theo- 
loj^dans exposed him with texts out of the P.ible; he wasted 
S(;ven years waitinj^ in vain for encouragement at the court 
of Spain. He applied unsuccessfully to the governments 
of Veni(c, i'oi I iij;;il, ( "iciioa, l''rancc, England. Practical 
men said, " It can't be done. lit; is a visionary." Doc- 
tors ol <livinil V said, "lie is a herelie; he contra(li( Is the 
Bible." Isabelhi, being a woman, ami a womun of seiUi- 



COI.UMRUS. 107 

merit, wished to helphiin; but her confessor said no. We 
all know how lie was compelled to put down mutiny in his 
crew, and liow, after his discovery was made, he was 
rewarded with chains and imi)ris(jnment, liow he died in 
nejj^Icct, i)overty, and pain, and only was rewarded by a 
sumpluous funeral. His great hope, his profound coiivic- 
ti(;ns, were his only sujjpc^rt and streii^^th. 



LIKr, noMKK — A I'.I'UUIAK IN ■|IIK (;A'II'',. 

Dna;o Cl.KMKNCIN, a Spanish statesman and author of nuril. I'.oinal 
Murcia, 1765; died, 1834. From his " lOloj^io dc la Kcina Caloi- 
ica, Isabella dc Castilla " (1851). 

A man obscure, and but little known, followed at this 
time the court. Confounded in the crowd of imfortunate 
applicants, feeding his imagination in the corners of ante- 
chambers with the pompous i)r(jject of discoverinj^ a world, 
melancholy and dejected in the midst of the general rejoic- 
ing, he beheld witii indifference, and almost with (oiitempt, 
the conclusion of a conquest which swelled all bosoms with 
jubilee, and seeni(;d to have reached the utmost JKJUnds oi 
desire. 'I'liat man was Cliristopiier (.^jlumbus. 



TIfK KIKSI' ('atholh; KNKJUI'. 

Jamks David Coi.KmAN, Supreme I'r<;sii!ent of IIk; Catholic Knijjhts of 
America, in an address to the nicmi)ers of tliat l>ody, September 
10, 1892. 

History tells that the anxious journey was begun by 
Columbus and his resolute band, api)r(jaching Holy Com- 
munion at J'alos, on August 3, 1492; that its prosecution, 
through sacrifices and perils, amid harrowing uncertaitities, 
was stamped with an exalted faith and unyielding trust in 
Cod, and that its marvelous and gUH'ious consummation, in 
October, 1492, was acknowledged by the cliivalrous knight, 



108 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

in tearful gratitude, on bended knee, at the foot of the cross 
of Christ, as the merciful gift of his omnipotent Master. 
Then it was that Christopher Columbus, the first Catholic 
knight of America, made the gracious Christian tribute of 
grateful recognition of Divine assistance by planting upon 
the soil of his newly discovered land the true emblem of 
Christianity and of man's redemption — the cross of our 
Savior. And then, reverently kneeling before the cross, 
and with eyes and hearts uplifted to their immolated God, 
this valiant band of Christian knights uttered from the 
virgin sod of America the first pious supplication that He 
would abundantly bless His gift to Columbus; and the 
unequaled grandeur of our civil structure of to-day tells 
the manifest response to those prayers of 400 years ago. 



BY FAITH COLUMBUS FOUND AMERICA. 

Robert Collyer, a distinguished pulpit orator. Born at Keighley, 
Yorkshire, December 8, 1823. 

The successful men in the long fight with fortune are the 
cheerful men, or those, certainly, who find the fair back- 
ground of faith and hope. Columbus, but for this, had 
never found our New World. 



THE CITY OF COLON STATUE. 

In the city of Colon, Department of Panama, Colombia, 
stands a statue to the memory of Columbus, of some artis- 
tic merit. The great Genoese is represented as encircling 
the neck of an Indian youth with his protecting arm, a 
representation somewhat similar to the pose of the statue 
in the plaza of the city of Santo Domingo. This statue was 
donated by the ex-Empress of the French, and on a wooden 



COLUMBUS. 109 

tablet attached to the concrete pedestal the following in- 
scription appears: 

Statue de 

CHRISTOPHE CO LOME 

Donnee par 

L' Intperatrice Eugenie 

Erigee d Colon 

Par Dccret de la Legislature de 

Colontbie 

Au 29 yuin, 1866, 

Par les soiiis de la Compagnie 

Universelle du Canal Maritime 

De Panama 

Le 21 Fevrier, 1886.'^ 

Translation: 

Statue of 

CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS 

Presented by 

The Empress Eugenie 

Erected in honor of Columbus 

By Decree of the Legislature of 

Colombia 

The 29th of June, 1866, 

Under the Supervision of the Universal 

Company of the Maritime Canal 

Of Panama 

The 2ist of February, 1886. 



THE COLUMBUS OF LITERATURE. 

Francis Bacon, Baron Verulam, Viscount St. Albans, com- 
monly called Lord Bacon, is generally so called. Born in 
London January 22, 1561; died April 19, 1626. 

"^^ For the above particulars and inscription the compiler desires to 
acknowledge his obligation to the Hon. Thomas Adamson, U. S. Consul 
General at Panama, and Mr. George W. Clamman, the able clerk of the 
U. S. Consulate in the city of Colon. 



110 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

THE COLUMBUS OF THE HEAVENS. 

Sir William Herschel, one of the greatest astronomers 
that any age or nation has produced, is generally so termed. 
Born at Hanover November 15, 1738; died August, 1822. 



THE COLUMBUS OF MODERN TIMES. 

Cyrus W. Field was termed "■the Columbus of modern 
times, who, by his cable, had moored the New World alongside of 
the Old," by the Rt. Hon. John Bright, in a debate in the 
British Parliament soon after the successful completion of 
the Atlantic cable. 



THE COLUMBUS OF THE SKIES. 

Galileo, the illustrious Italian mathematician and natural 
philosopher, is so styled by Edward Everett {post). He 
was born at Pisa February 15, 1564,- died near Florence 
in January, 1642. 



r THE PERSONAL APPEARANCE OF COLUMBUS. 

Hernando Columbus, son of Christopher. Born at Cordova, 1488; 
died at Valladolid, 1539. 

He was tall, well formed, muscular, and of an elevated 
and dignified demeanor. His visage was long, neither full 
nor meager; his complexion fair and freckled, and inclined 
to ruddy; his nose aquiline; his cheek bones were rather 
high, his eyes light gray, and apt to enkindle; his whole 
countenance had an air of authority. His hair, in his 
youthful days, was of a light color, but care and trouble, 
according to Las Casas, soon turned it gray, and at thirty 
years of age it was quite white. He was moderate and 
simple in diet and apparel, eloquent in discourse, engaging 
and affable with strangers, and his amiability and suavity 
in domestic life strongly attached his household to his 
person. His temper was naturally irritable, but he subdued 



COLUMBUS. Ill 

it by the magnanimity of liis spirits, comporting himself 
with a courteous and gentle gravity, and never indulging in 
any intemperance of language. Throughout his life he was 
noted for strict attention to the offices of religion, observing 
rigorously the fasts and ceremonies of the church; nor did 
his piety consist in mere forms, but partook of that lofty and 
solemn enthusiasm with which his whole character was 
strongly tinctured. 



THE SONG OF AMERICA. 

KiNAHAN CORNWALLIS. From his " Soncr of America and Columbus; or, 
The Story of the New World." New York, 1S92. Published by 
the Daily Investigator. 

Hail! to this New World nation; hail! 

That to Columbus tribute pays; 
That glorifies his name, all hail, 

And crowns his memory with bays. 

Hail! to Columbia's mighty realm, 
Which all her valiant sons revere, 

A.nd foemen ne'er can overwhelm. 
Well may the world its prowess fear. 

Hail! to this richly favored land. 
For which the patriot fathers fought. 

Forever may the Union stand. 

To crown the noble deeds they wrought. 

Hail! East and West, and North and South, 

From Bunker Hill to Mexico; 
The Lakes to Mississippi's mouth, 

And the Sierras crowned with snow. 

Hail! to the wondrous works of man. 
From Maine to California's shores; 

From ocean they to ocean span, 
And over all the eagle soars. 



112 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 



THE FLEET OF COLUMBUS. 



Six sail were in the squadron he possessed, 

And these he felt the Lord of Hosts had blessed. 

For he was ever faithful to the cross, 

With which compared, all else was earthly dross. 

Southwestward toward the equinoctial line 

He steered his barks, for vast was his design. 

There, like a mirror, the Atlantic lay, 

White dolphins on its breast were seen to play. 

And lazily the vessels rose and fell, 

With flapping sails, upon the gentle swell; 

While panting crews beneath the torrid sun 

Lost strength and spirits — felt themselves undone. 

Day after day the air a furnace seemed, 

And fervid rays upon them brightly beamed. 

The burning decks displayed their yawning seams, 

And from the rigging tar ran down in streams. — Ibid. 



COLUMBUS COLLECTION. 

Rudolph Cronau, the eminent author and scientist of 
Leipsic, Germany, has contributed to the World's Fair his 
extensive collection of paintings, sketches, and photographs, 
representing scenes in the life of Columbus, and places 
visited by Columbus during his voyages to the New World. 
Doctor Cronau has spent a great part of his life in the 
study of early American history, and has published a work 
on the subject, based entirely upon his personal investiga- 
tions. 



COLUMBUS' HAVEN. 

An indentation of the coast of Watling's Island, in the 
Bahamas, is known to this day as Columbus' Haven. 




^^ 






m^jr""*^';;;^"^"'" ""^.'.-^' 



iiiiiii I 



STATUE OF COLUMBUS IN THE CITY OF COLON, DEPARTMENT OF PANAMA, 

COLOMBIA. 

The gift of the ex-Empress of the French. 

( See page 109.) 



COLUMBUS. 113 

Cuba's caves — the mantle of columbus. 

In the caves of Bellamar, near Matanzas, Cuba, are spark- 
ling columns of crystal 150 feet high; o»^e is called the 
"Mantle of Columbus." 



THE PORTRAITS OF COLUMBUS. 

The Hon. William Eleroy Curtis, an American journalist, Secretary 
of the Bureau of the American Republics, Washington, D. C. 
Born at Akron, Ohio. From an article, " The Columbus Portraits," 
in the Cosmopolitan Magazine, January, 1892. 

Although Columbus twice mentioned in his alleged will 
that he was a native of Genoa, a dozen places still demand 
the honor of being considered his birthplace, and two claim 
to possess his bones. Nothing is certain about his parent- 
age, and his age is the subject of dispute. The stories of 
his boyhood adventures are mythical, and his education at 
the University of Pavia is denied. 

The same doubt attends the various portraits that pre- 
tend to represent his features. The most reliable authori- 
ties — and the subject has been under discussion for two 
centuries — agree that there is no tangible evidence to prove 
that the face of Columbus was ever painted or sketched or 
graven, during his life. His portrait has been painted, like 
that of the Madonna and those of the saints, by many 
famous artists, each dependent upon verbal descriptions of 
his appearance by contemporaneous writers, and each con- 
veying to the canvas his own conception of what the great 
seaman's face must have been; but it may not be said that 
any of the portraits are genuine, and it is believed that all 
of them are more or less fanciful. 

It must be considered that the art of painting portraits 
was in its infancy when Columbus lived. The honor was 
reserved for kings and queens and other dignitaries, and 
Columbus was regarded as an importunate adventurer, 

8 



114 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

who at the close of his first voyage enjoyed a brief triumpn, 
but from the termination of his second voyage was the 
victim of envy and misrepresentation to the close of his 
life. He was derided and condemned, was brought in 
chains like a common felon from the continent he had dis- 
covered, and for nearly two hundred years his descendants 
contested in the courts for the dignities and emoluments he 
demanded of the crown of Spain before undertaking what 
was then the most perilous and uncertain of adventures. 
Even the glory of giving his name to the lands he dis- 
covered was transferred to another — a man who followed 
in his track; and it is not strange, under such circum- 
stances, that the artists of Spain did not leave the religious 
subjects upon which they were engaged to paint the por- 
trait of one who said of himself that he was a beggar 
" without a penny to buy food." 



THE STANDARD OF MODERN CRITICISM. 

The Hon. William Eleroy Curtis, in an able article in the Chautau- 
qua n Magazine, September, 1892. 

Whether the meager results of recent investigation are 
more reliable than the testimony of earlier pens is a seri- 
ous question, and the sympathetic and generous reader 
will challenge the right of modern historians to destroy 
and reject traditions to which centuries have paid rever- 
ence. The failure to supply evidence in place of that 
which has been discarded is of itself sufficient to impair 
faith in the modern creation, and simply demonstrates the 
fallacy of the theory that what can not be proven did not 
exist. If the same analysis to which the career of Colum- 
bus has been subjected should be applied to every charac- 
ter in sacred and secular history, there would be little left 
among the world's great heroes to admire. So we ask per- 
mission to retain the old ideal, and remember the discov- 



COLUMBUS. 115 

erer of our hemisphere as a man of human weaknesses 
but of stern purpose, inflexible will, undaunted courage, 
patience, and professional theories most of which modern 
science has demonstrated to be true. 



AN ITALIAN CONTEMPORARY TRIBUTE. 
GiULio Dati, a Florentine poet. Born, 1560; died about 1630. 
A lengthy poem, in ottava rinia (founded upon the first 
letter of Columbus announcing his success), was composed 
in 1493, by Giulio Dati, the famous Florentine poet, and 
was sung in the streets of that city to publish the discovery 
of the New World. The full Italian text is to be found in 
R. H. Major's "Select Letters of Christopher Columbus," 
Hakluyt Society, 187 1. 



THE MUTINY AT SEA."" 

Jean FRAN901S Casimir Delavigne, a popular French poet and drama- 
tist. Born at Havre, April 4, 1793; died at Lyons, December, 
1843. 

THREE DAYS. 

On the deck stood Columbus; the ocean's expanse. 

Untried and unlimited, swept by his glance. 
" Back to Spain! " cry his men; " put the vessel about! 

We venture no farther through danger and doubt." 
"Three days, and I give you a world," he replied; 
" Bear up, my brave comrades — three days shall decide." 

He sails — but no token of land is in sight; 

He sails — but the day shows no more than the night; 

On, onward he sails, while in vain o'er the lee 

The lead is plunged down through a fathomless sea. 

"' Seiior EmilioCastel ir, the celebrated Spanish author and statesman, 
in his most able series of articles on Columbus in the Ccnttiry Magazine, 
derides the fact of an actual mutiny as a convenient fable which authors 
and dramatists have clothed with much choice diction. 



116 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

The second day's past, and Columbus is sleeping, 
While mutiny near him its vigil is keeping. 

" Shall he perish?" " Ay, death! " is the barbarous cry. 

"He must triumph to-morrow, or, perjured, must die! " 
Ungrateful and blind! shall the world-linking sea, 
He traced, for the future his sepulcher be? 
Shall that sea, on the morrow, with pitiless waves, 
Fling his corse on that shore which his patient eye craves? 
The corse of a humble adventurer, then. 
One day later — Columbus, the first among men. 

But, hush! he is dreaming! A veil on the main, 
At the distant horizon, is parted in twain; 
And now on his dreaming eye — rapturous sight — 
Fresh bursts the New World from the darkness of night. 
O vision of glory! how dazzling it seems; 
How glistens the verdure! how sparkle the streams! 
How blue the far mountains! how glad the green isles! 
And the earth and the ocean, how dimpled with smiles! 
"Joy! joy!" cries Columbus, "this region is mine! " 
Ah, not e'en its name, wondrous dreamer, is thine. 



HONOR THE HARDY NORSEMEN. 

The Rev. B. F. De Costa, D. D., a well-known New York divine and 
social reformer of the present day. 

Prof, Rafn, in " Antiquitates Americanae," gives notices 
of numerous Icelandic voyages to American and other 
lands of the West. The existence of a great country 
southwest of Greenland is referred to, not as a matter of 
speculation merely, but as something perfectly well known. 
Let us remember that in vindicating the Northmen we 
honor those who not only give us the first knowledge pos- 
sessed of the American continent, but to whom we are 
indebted besides for much that we esteem valuable. 



COLUMBUS. 117 

BRILLIANTS FROM DEPEW. 

Chauncey M. Depew, one of the leading American orators of the 
nineteenth century. From an oration on ' ' Columbus and the 
Exposition," delivered in Chicago in 1890. 

It is not sacrilege to say that the two events to which 
civilization to-day owes its advanced position are the intro- 
duction of Christianity and the discovery of America. 

When Columbus sailed from Palos, types had been dis- 
covered, but church and state held intelligence by the 
throat. 

Sustained enthusiasm has been the motor of every move- 
ment in the progress of mankind. 

Genius, pluck, endurance, and faith can be resisted by 
neither kings nor cabinets. 

Columbus stands deservedly at the head of that most 
useful band of men — the heroic cranks in history. 

The persistent enthusiast whom one generation despises 
as a lunatic with one idea, succeeding ones often worship 
as a benefactor. 

This whole country is ripe and ready for the inspection 
of the world. 



GENOA WHENCE GRAND COLUMBUS CAME. 

Aubrey Thomas De Vere, an English poet and political writer. Born, 
1814. In a sonnet, " Genoa." 

SJC ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ qc mA 

Whose prow descended first the Hesperian Sea, 

And gave our world her mate beyond the brine, 
Was nurtured, whilst an infant, at thy knee. 

THE VISION OF COLUMBUS. 

The crimson sun was sinking down to rest. 
Pavilioned on the cloudy verge of heaven; 

And ocean, on her gently heaving breast. 

Caught and flashed back the varying tints of even* 



118 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

When, on a fragment from the tall cliff riven, 

With folded arms, and doubtful thoughts opprest, 

Columbus sat, till sudden hope was given — 
A ray of gladness shooting from the West. 

Oh, what a glorious vision for mankind 

Then dawned upon the twilight of his mind; 
Thoughts shadowy still, but indistinctly grand. 

There stood his genie, face to face, and signed 
(So legends tell) far seaward with her hand, 
Till a new world sprang up, and bloomed beneath 
her wand. 

He was a man whom danger could not daunt, 

Nor sophistry perplex, nor pain subdue; 
A stoic, reckless of the world's vain taunt, 

And steeled the path of honor to pursue. 
So, when by all deserted, still he knew 

How best to soothe the heart-sick, or confront 
Sedition; schooled with equal eye to view 

The frowns of grief and the base pangs of want. 
But when he saw that promised land arise 
In all its rare and beautiful varieties. 

Lovelier than fondest fancy ever trod. 
Then softening nature melted in his eyes; 

He knew his fame was full, and blessed his God, 

And fell upon his face and kissed the virgin sod! 

—Ibid. 



OLUMBUS STATUE IN CHICAGO. 

The Drake Fountain, Chicago, presented to the city by 
Mr. John B. Drake, a prominent and respected citizen, is 
to occupy a space between the city hall and the court 
house buildings, on the Washington Street frontage. The 



COLUMBUS. 119 

monument is to be Gothic in style, and the base will be 
composed of granite from Baveno, Italy. The design includes 
a pedestal, on the front of which will be placed a bronze 
statue of Christopher Columbus, seven feet high, which is 
to be cast in the royal foundry at Rome. The statue will 
be the production of an American artist of reputation, Mr. 
R. H. Park of Chicago. The fountain is to be provided with 
an ice-chamber capable of holding two tons of ice, and is 
to be surrounded with a water-pipe containing ten faucets, 
each supplied with a bronze cup. The entire cost will be 
$15,000. Mr. Drake's generous gift to Chicago is to be 
ready for public use in 1892, and it will, therefore, be hap- 
pily commemorative of the 400th anniversary of the dis- 
covery of America by Columbus. The inscription on the 
fountain reads: "Ice-water drinking fountain presented 
to the City of Chicago by John B. Drake 1892." At the 
feet of the statue of Columbus, who is represented as a stu- 
dent of geography in his youth at the University of Pavia, 
is inscribed, "Christopher Columbus, 1492-1892." 

The fountain is a very handsome piece of bronze art 
work, and Commissioner Aldrich has decided to place it in 
a conspicuous place, being none other than the area between 
the court house and the city hall, facing Washington Street. 
This central and accessible spot of public ground has 
been an unsightly stabling place for horses ever since the 
court house was built. It will now be sodded, flower-beds 
will be laid out, and macadamized walks will surround the 
Drake Fountain. The new feature will be a relief to weary 
eyes, and an ornament to Washington Street and the center 
of the city. 

The red granite base for the fountain lias been received 
at the custom house. It was made in Turin, Italy, and cost 
$3)3°o- Under the law, the stone came in duty free, as it 
is intended as a gift to the municipality. 



120 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

DREAM, 

John William Draper, a celebrated American chemist and scientist. 
Born near Liverpool, England, 1811; died January 4, 1S82. From 
his " Intellectual Development of Europe," 1876. By permission 
of Messrs. Harper & Brothers, Publishers, New York. 

Columbus appears to have formed his theory that the 
East Indies could be reached by sailing to the west about 
A. D. 1474, He was at that time in correspondence with 
Toscanelli, the Florentine astronomer, who held the same 
doctrine, and who sent him a map or chart constructed on 
the travels of Marco Polo. He offered his services first 
to his native city, then to Portugal, then to Spain, and, 
through his brother, to England; his chief inducement, in 
each instance, being that the riches of India might be thus 
secured. In Lisbon he had married. While he lay sick 
near Belem, an unknown voice whispered to him in a dream, 
"God will cause thy name to be wonderfully resounded 
through the earth, and will give thee the keys of the gates 
of the ocean which are closed with strong chains." The 
death of his wife appears to have broken the last link 
which held him to Portugal, where he had been since 1470. 
One evening, in the autumn of 1485, a man of majestic 
presence, pale, careworn, and, though in the meridian of 
life, with silver hair, leading a little boy by the hand, asked 
alms at the gate of the Franciscan convent near Palos — not 
for himself, but only a little bread and water for his child. 
This was that Columbus destined to give to Europe a new 
world. 



A PEN-PICTURE FROM THE SOUTH. 

The Right Rev. Anthony Durier, Bishop of Natchitoches, La., in 
a circular letter to the clergy and laity of the diocese, printed in 
the New Orleans Morning Star, September 10, 1892. 

We cherish the memory of the illustrious sailor, also 
of the lady and of the monk who were providential 




HEAD OF COLUMBUS. 
Designed by H. H. Zeanng of Chicago. 



COLUMBUS. 131 

instruments in opening a new world to religion and civili- 
zation. 

Honor to the sailor, Christopher Columbus, the Christ- 
bearing dove, as his name tells, gentle as a dove of hal- 
lowed memory as Christ-bearer. In fact, he brought 
Christ to the New World. Look back at that sailor, 
400 years ago, on bended knees, with hands uplifted 
in prayer, on the shores of Guanahani, first to invoke the 
name of Jesus in the New World; in fact, as in name, 
behold the Christ-bearing dove. Columbus was a knight 
of the cross, with his good cross-hilted sword, blessed by 
the church. The first aim and ambition of a knight of the 
cross, at that time, was to plant the cross in the midst of 
heathen nations, and to have them brought from " the 
region of the shadow of death " into the life-giving bosom 
of Mother Church. 

Listen to the prayer of Columbus, as he brings his lips 
to, and kneels on, the blessed land he has discovered, that 
historic prayer which he had prepared long in advance, and 
which all Catholic discoverers repeated after him: " O 
Lord God, eternal and omnipotent, who by Thy divine 
word hast created the heavens, the earth, and the sea! 
Blessed and glorified be thy name and praised Thy maj- 
esty, who hast deigned by me, thy humble servant, to have 
that sacred name made known and preached in this other 
part of the world." 

Behold the true knight of the cross, with cross-hilted 
sword in hand, the name of Jesus on his lips, the glory 
of Jesus in his heart. He does not say a word of the 
glory which, from the discovery, is bound to accrue to the 
name of Spain and to his own name; every word is directed 
to, and asking for, the glory of the name of Jesus. 

The great discoverer has knelt down, kissed the ground, 
and said his prayer; now, look at that Catholic Spanish 



122 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

sailor standing up, in commanding dignity, and planting 
his Catholic cross and his Spanish flag on the discovered 
land; what does it mean? It means — the Spanish flag in 
America for a time, and the Catholic cross in America 
forever. 

Hail, flag of the discoverer! Spanish flag, the flag of the 
noble and the daring. That Spanish flag came here first, 
had its glorious day, and still in glory went back. Hail, 
Catholic crossi the cross of the discoverer. That cross is 
not to go back, as the Spanish flag; no, not even in glory. 
About that cross, only two simple words, and that settles 
it; that Catholic cross is here to stay. Hail, American 
flag! star-spangled banner; the banner of the brave and of 
the free. That one, our own flag, came long after the 
Spanish flag, but we trust came to stay as long as the 
Catholic cross — until doom's-day. 

Honor to the lady. Queen Isabella the Catholic. Among 
all illustrious women, Isabella alone has been graced with 
the title of " the Catholic," — a peerless title! And truly did 
she deserve the peerless title, the lady who threw heart and 
soul, and, over and above, her gold, in the discovery by 
which, out of the spiritual domains of the Catholic church, 
the sun sets no more; the lady who paved the way over 
the bounding sea to the great discoverer. Bright and 
energetic lady! She at once understood Columbus and 
stood resolute, ready to pave him the way even with her 
jewels. Listen to her words: "I undertake the enterprise 
for my own crown of Castille, and I will pledge my jewels 
to raise the necessary funds." 

The generous lady had not to pledge her jewels; yet her 
gold was freely spent, lavished on the expedition; and she 
stood by Columbus, in storm and sunshine, as long as she 
lived. Isabella stood by Columbus, in his success, with 
winsome gentleness, keeping up his daring spirit of enter- 



COLUMBUS. 123 

prise; and, in his reverses, with the balm of unwavering 
devotion healing his bruised, bleeding heart. Isabella 
stood by Columbus, as a mother by her son, ever, ever 
true to her heroic son. 

Honor to the humble monk, John Perez, Father John, as 
he was called in his convent. That monk whose name will 
live as long as the names of Columbus and Isabella; that 
monk, great by his learning and still better by his heart; 
that humble, plain man inspired the sailor with persever- 
ance indomitable, the lady with generosity unlimited, and 
sustained in both sailor and lady that will power and 
mount-removing faith the result of which was to give " to 
the Spanish King innumerable countries and to God 
innumerable souls." As the Spanish poet, Lope de Vega, 
beautifully puts it: 

A I Rey infinitas tier r as, 
Y d Dios infinitas almas. 

It is the Spanish throne which backed Columbus; but, 
mind! that monk was " the power behind the throne." 

We Louisianians live, may be, in the fairest part of the 
New World discovered by Columbus. When Chevalier 
La Salle had explored the land, he gave it the beautiful 
name of Louisiana, and he wrote to his king, Louis 
XIV., these words: "The land we have explored and 
named Louisiana, after your Majesty's name, is a paradise, 
the Eden of the New World." Thanks be to God who has 
cast our lot in this paradise, the Eden of the New World, 
fair Louisiana! Let us honor and ever cherish the mem- 
ory of the hero who led the way and opened this country 
to our forefathers. Louisiana was never blessed with the 
footprints of Columbus, yet by him it was opened to the 
onward march of the Christian nations. 

To the great discoverer, Christopher Columbus, the grat- 
itude of Louisiana, the Eden of the New World. 



134 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 



BARTOLOMEO COLUMBUS. 



L. A. DuTTO of Jackson, Miss., in an article, " Columbus in Portugal," 
in the Catholic World, April, i8g2. 

Columbus in 1492, accompanied by a motley crew of 
sailors of different nationalities, crossed the Atlantic and 
discovered America. Hence the glory of that event, second 
only in importance to the incarnation of Christ, is attrib- 
uted very generally solely to him. As reflex lights of that 
glory, history mentions the names of Queen Isabella, of the 
Pinzon brothers, the friar Juan Perez. There is another 
name that should be placed at head of the list. That is, 
Bartolomeo Columbus, the brother of Christopher. From 
the beginning there existed a partnership between the two 
in the mighty undertaking; the effect of a common convic- 
tion that the land of spices, Cipango and Cathay, the East, 
could be reached by traveling west. Both of them spent 
the best years of their life in privation, hardship, and 
poverty, at times the laughing stock of the courts of 
Europe, in humbly begging from monarchies and republics 
the ships necessary to undertake their voyage. While 
Christopher patiently waited in the antechambers of the 
Catholic monarchs of Spain, Bartolomeo, map in hand, 
explained to Henry VII. of England the rotundity of the 
earth, and the feasibility of traveling to the antipodes. 
Having failed in his mission to the English king, he passed 
to France to ask of her what had been refused by Portugal, 
Spain, Venice, England, and Genoa. While he was there, 
Columbus, who had no means of communicating with him, 
sailed from Palos. Had there been, as now, a system of 
international mails, Bartolomeo would now share with his 
brother the title of Discoverer of America. Las Casas rep- 
resents him as little inferior to Christopher in the art of 
navigation, and as a writer and in things pertaining to car- 
tography as his superior. Gallo, the earliest biographer of 



COLUMBUS. 125 

Columbus, and writing during his lifetime, has told us that 
Bartolomeo settled in Lisbon, and there made a living by 
drawing mariners' charts. Giustiniani, another country- 
man of Columbus, says in his polyglot Psalter, published 
in 1537, that Christopher learned cartography from his 
brother Bartolomeo, who had learned it himself in Lisbon. 
But what may appear more surprising is the plain statement 
of Gallo that Bartolomeo was the first to conceive the idea 
of reaching the East by way of the West, by a transatlantic 
voyage, and that he communicated it to his brother, who 
was more experienced than himself in nautical affairs. 



FIRST GLIMPSE OF LAND. 

Charles H. Eden, English historical writer and traveler. From " The 
West Indies." 

Nearly four centuries ago, in the year 1492, before the 
southern point of the great African continent had been 
doubled, and when the barbaric splendor of Cathay and 
the wealth of Hindustan were only known to Europeans 
through the narratives of Marco Polo or Sir John Mande- 
ville — early on the morning of Friday, October 12th, a 
man stood bareheaded on the deck of a caravel and 
watched the rising sun lighting up the luxuriant tropical 
vegetation of a level and beautiful island toward which the 
vessel was gently speeding her way. Three-and-thirty 
days had elapsed since the last known point of the Old 
World, the Island of Ferrol, had faded away over the high 
poop of his vessel; eventful weeks, during which he had to 
contend against the natural fears of the ignorant and 
superstitious men by whom he was surrounded, and by the 
stratagem of a double reckoning, together with promises of 
future wealth, to allay the murmuring which threatened to 
frustrate the project that for so many years had been near- 
est his heart. Never, in the darkest hour, did the courage 



126 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

of that man quail or his soul admit a single doubt of suc- 
cess. When the terrified mariners remarked with awe that 
the needle deviated from the pole star, their intrepid 
Admiral, by an ingenious theory of his own, explained the 
cause of the phenomenon and soothed the alarm that had 
arisen. When the steady trade-winds were reached, and 
the vessels flew rapidly for days toward the west, the com- 
mander hailed as a godsend the mysterious breeze that his 
followers regarded with awe as imposing an insuperable 
barrier to their return to sunny Spain. When the prow of 
the caravel was impeded, and her way deadened by the 
drifting network of the Sargasso Sea, the leader saw therein 
only assured indications of land, and resolutely shut his 
ears against those prophets who foresaw evil in every inci- 
dent. 

Now his hopes were fulfilled, the yearnings of a lifetime 
realized. During the night a light had been seen, and at 
2 o'clock in the morning land became, beyond all doubt, 
visible. Then the three little vessels laid to, and with the 
earliest streak of dawn made sail toward the coast. A 
man stood bareheaded on the deck of the leading caravel 
and feasted his eyes upon the wooded shore; the man was 
Christopher Columbus, the land he gazed on the " West 
Indies." 

SAN SALVADOR, OR WATLING'S ISLAND. 

San Salvador, or Watling's Island, is about twelve miles in 
length by six in breadth, having its interior largely cut up 
by salt-water lagoons, separated from each other by low 
woody hills. Being one of the most fertile of the group, it 
maintains nearly 2,000 inhabitants, who are scattered about 
over its surface. Peculiar interest will always attach itself 
to this spot as being the finst land on which the discoverer 
of the New World set foot. — Ibid. 



COLUMBUS. 127 

THE MYSTERY OF THE SHADOWY SEA. 

Xerif ai, Edrisi, surnamed " The Nubian," an eminent Arabian geog- 
rapher. Born at Ceuta, Africa, about iioo. In " A Description 
of Spain " (Conde's Spanish translation, Madrid, 1799). He wrote 
a celebrated treatise of geography, and made a silver terrestrial 
globe for Roger II., King of Sicily, at whose court he lived. 

The ocean encircles the ultimate bounds of the inhabited 
earth, and all beyond it is unknown. No one has been 
able to verify anything concerning it, on account of its 
difficult and perilous navigation, its great obscurity, its 
profound depth, and frequent tempests; through fear of its 
mighty fishes and its haughty winds; yet there are many 
islands in it, some peopled, others uninhabited. There is no 
mariner who dares to enter into its deep waters; or, if any 
have done so, they have merely kept along its coasts, fear- 
ful of departing from them. The waves of this ocean, 
although they roll as high as mountains, yet maintain 
themselves without breaking, for if they broke it would be 
impossible for ship to plow them. 



PALOS. 

Prof. Maurice Francis Egan. From an article, " Columbus the 
Christ- Bearer," in the New York Independent, jvine 2, 1892. 

The caravels equipped at Palos were so unseaworthy, 
judged by the dangers of the Atlantic, that no crew in our 
time would have trusted in them. The people of Palos 
disliked this foreigner, Columbus. No man of Palos, 
except the Pinzons, ancient mariners, sympathized with him 
in his hopes. The populace overrated the risks of the voy- 
age; the court, fortunately for Columbus, underrated them. 
The Admiral's own ships and his crew were not such as to 
inspire confidence. His friends, the friars, had somewhat 
calmed the popular feeling against the expedition; but 
ungrateful Palos never approved of it until it made her 
famous. 



128 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

AN UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY. 
Samuel R. Elliott, in the Century Magazine, Septembei, ..892. 
You have no heart? Ah, when the Genoese 

Before Spain's monarchs his great voyage planned, 
Small faith had they in worlds beyond the seas — 
Andj^z/r Columbus yet may come to land! 



SAGACITY. 

Ralph Waldo Emerson, the well-known American essayist, poet, and 
speculative philosopher. Born in Boston, May 25, 1803; died at 
Concord, April 27, 1882. From his essay on "Success,"' in 
Society and Solittide. Copyright, by Messrs. Houghton, Mifflin & 
Co., publishers, Boston, and with their permission. 

Columbus at Veragua found plenty of gold; but, leaving 
the coast, the ship full of one hundred and fifty skillful sea- 
men, some of them old pilots, and with too much experi- 
ence of their craft and treachery to him, the wise Admiral 
kept his private record of his homeward path. And when 
he reached Spain, he told the King and Queen, " That they 
may ask all the pilots who came with him. Where is Veragua? 
Let them answer and say, if they know, where Veragua 
lies. I assert that they can give no other account than 
that they went to lands where there was abundance of gold, 
but they do not know the way to return thither, but would 
be obliged to go on a voyage of discovery as much as if 
they had never been there before. There is a mode of 
reckoning," he proudly adds, " derived from astronomy, 
which is sure and safe to any who understands it." 



THE VOICE OF THE SEA. 

From a poem, " Seashore," by Ralph Waldo Emerson. Houghton, 
Mifflin & Co., Boston. 

1 with my hammer pounding evermore 
The rocky coast, smite Andes into dust. 




Copyright. 1892, bj- R. It. Park 



COLUMBUS AS A STUDENT AT PAVIA. 

From the Drake Drinking Fountain, Chicago. 

(See page 1 18,) 



COLUMBUS. 129 

Strewing my bed, and, in another age. 

Rebuild a continent of better men. 

Then I unbar the doors; my paths lead out 

The exodus of nations; I disperse 

Men to all shores that front the hoary main. 

I too have arts and sorceries; 

Illusion dwells forever with the wave. 

I know what spells are laid. Leave me to deal 

With credulous and imaginative man; 

For, though he scoop my water in his palm, 

A few rods off he deems it gems and clouds. 

Planting strange fruits and sunshine on the shore, 

I make some coast alluring, some lone isle, 

To distant men, who must go there, or die. 

THE REASONING OF COLUMBUS, 

Columbus alleged, as a reason for seeking a continent in 
the West, that the harmony of nature required a great 
tract of land in the western hemisphere to balance the 
known extent of land in the eastern. — Ibid. 



STRANGER THAN FICTION. 

Edward Everett, a distinguished American orator, scholar, and states- 
man. Born at Dorchester, Mass., April ii, 1794; died, January 
15, 1865. From a lecture on "The Discovery of America," 
deHvered at a meeting of the Historical Society of New York 
in 1853. 

No chapter of romance equals the interest of this expe- 
dition. The most fascinating of the works of fiction 
which have issued from the modern press have, to my taste, 
no attraction compared with the pages in which the first 
voyage of Columbus is described by Robertson, and still 
more by our own Irving and Prescott, the last two enjoying 
the advantage over the great Scottish historian of possess- 
9 



130 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

ing the lately discovered journals and letters of Columbus 
himself. The departure from Palos, where a few years 
before he had begged a morsel of bread and a cup of water 
for his way-worn child; his final farewell to the Old World 
at the Canaries; his entrance upon the trade-winds, which 
then for the first time filled a European sail; the porten- 
tous variation of the needle, never before observed; the 
fearful course westward and westward, day after day and 
night after night, over the unknown ocean; the mutinous 
and ill-appeased crew; at length, when hope had turned to 
despair in every heart but one, the tokens of land — the cloud 
banks on the western horizon, the logs of driftwood, the 
fresh shrub floating with its leaves and berries, the flocks 
of land birds, the shoals of fish that inhabit shallow- 
water, the indescribable smell of the shore; the mysterious 
presentment that seems ever to go before a great event; 
and finally, on that ever memorable night of October 
12, 1492, the moving light seen by the sleepless eye of 
the great discoverer himself from the deck of the Santa 
Maria, and in the morning the real, undoubted land swell- 
ing up from the bosom of the deep, with its plains and 
forests, and hills and rocks and streams, and strange new 
races of men. These are incidents in which the authentic 
history of the discovery of our continent exceeds the 
specious wonders of romance, as much as gold excels 
tinsel, or the sun m the heavens outshines the flickering 
taper. 

THE COLUMBUS OF THE HEAVENS — SCORNED. 

Dominicans may deride thy discoveries now: but the 
time will come when from two hundred observatories, in 
Europe and America, the glorious artillery of science shall 
nightly assault the skies; but they shall gain no conquests 
in those glittering fields before wi.ich thine shall be for- 



COLUMRUS. 131 

gotten. Rest in peace, great Columbus of the heavens!™ 
like him scorned, persecuted, broken-hearted. — Ibid. 

FAME. 

We find encouragement in every page of our country's 
history. Nowhere do we meet with examples more numer- 
ous and more brilliant of men who have risen above 
poverty and obscurity and every disadvantage to useful- 
ness and honorable name. One whole vast continent was 
added to the geopraphy of the world by the persevering 
efforts of a humble Genoese mariner, the great Columbus, 
who, by the steady pursuit of the enlightened conception 
he had formed of the figure of the earth, before any navi- 
gator had acted upon the belief that it was round, dis- 
covered the American continent. He was the son of a 
Genoese pilot, a pilot and seaman himself; and, at one 
period of his melancholy career, was reduced to beg his 
bread at the doors of the convents in Spain. But he carried 
within himself, and beneath a humble exterior, a spirit 
for which there was not room in Spain, in Europe, nor ni 
the then known world; and which led him on to a height 
of usefulness and fame beyond that of all the monarchs 
that ever reigned. — Ibid. 



TRIFLING INCIDENT. 

The Venerable Frederic William Farrar, D. D., F. R. S., Arch- 
deacon of Westminster. Born in Bombay, August 7, 1831. From 
his " Lectures and Addresses." 

There are some who are fond of looking at the appar- 
ently trifling incidents of history, and of showing how the 
stream of centuries has been diverted in one or other direc- 
tion by events the most insignificant. General Garfield 
told his pupils at Hiram that the roof of a certain court 

^" Galileo, the great Italian natural philosopher, is here referred to by 
the author. 



133 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

hou e was so absolute a watershed that the flutter of a 
bird's wing would be sufficient to decide whether a partic- 
ular rain-drop should make its way into the Gulf of St. 
Lawrence or into the Gulf of Mexico. The flutter of a 
bird's wing may have affected all history. Some students 
may see an immeasurable significance in the flight of par- 
rots, which served to alter the course of Columbus, and 
guided him to the discovery of North and not of South 
America. 



EXCITEMENT AT THE NEWS OF THE DISCOVERY. 

John Fiske, a justly celebrated American historian. Born at Hartford, 
Conn., March 30, 1842. From " The Discovery of America." 

It was generally assumed without question that the 
Admiral's theory of his discovery must be correct, that the 
coast of Cuba m.ust be the eastern extremity of China, that 
the coast of Hispaniola must be the northern extremity o^ 
Cipango, and that a direct route — much shorter than that 
which Portugal had so long been seeking — had now been 
found to those lands of illimitable wealth described by 
Marco Polo. To be sure, Columbus had not as yet seen 
the evidences of this oriental splendor, and had been puz- 
zled at not finding them, but he felt confident that he had 
come very near them and would come full upon them in a 
second voyage. There was nobody who knew enough to 
refute these opinions, and really why should not this great 
geographer, who had accomplished so much already which 
people had scouted as impossible — why should he not know 
what he was about? It was easy enough now to get men 
and money for the second voyage. When the Admiral 
sailed from Cadiz on September 25, 1493, it was with seven- 
teen ships, carrying 1,500 men. Their dreams were of the 
marble palaces of Quinsay, of isles of spices, and the treas- 
ures of Prester John. The sovereigns wept for joy as they 



COLUMBUS. 133 

thought that such untold riches were vouchsafed them, by 
the special decree of Heaven, as a reward for having over- 
come the Moors at Granada and banished the Jews from 
Spain. Columbus shared these views, and regarded himself 
as a special instrument for executing the divine decrees. 
He renewed his vow to rescue the Holy Sepulcher, prom- 
ising within the next seven years to equip at his own 
expense a crusading army of 50,000 foot and 4,000 horse; 
within five years thereafter he would follow this with a 
second army of like dimensions. 

Thus nobody had the faintest suspicion of what had been 
done. In the famous letter to Santangel there is of course 
not a word about a new world. The grandeur of the 
achievement was quite beyond the ken of the generation 
that witnessed it. For we have since come to learn that 
in 1492 the contact between the eastern and the western 
halves of our planet was first really begun, and the two 
streams of human life which had flowed on for countless 
ages, apart, were thenceforth to mingle together. The 
first voyage of Columbus is thus a unique event in the 
history of mankind. Nothing like it was ever done before, 
and nothing like it can ever be done again. No worlds are 
left for a future Columbus to conquer. The era of which 
this great Italian mariner was the most illustrious repre- 
sentative has closed forever. 

VINLAND. 

John Fiske, an American philosopher. Born in Connecticut, 1842. 
From " Washington and his Country." 

Learned men had long known that the earth is round, but 
people generally did not believe it, and it had not occurred 
to anybody that such a voyage would be practicable. 
People were afraid of going too far out into the ocean. A 
ship which disappears in the offing seems to be going down 



134 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

hlll; and many people thought that if they were to get too 
far down hill, they could not get back. Other notions, as 
absurd as this, were entertained, which made people dread 
the "Sea of Darkness," as the Atlantic was often called. 
Accordingly, Columbus found it hard to get support for his 
scheme. 

About fifteen years before his first voyage, Columbus 
seems to have visited Iceland, and some have supposed 
that he then heard about the voyages of the Northmen, and 
was thus led to his belief that land would be found by sail- 
ing west. He may have thus heard about Vinland, and 
may have regarded the tale as confirming his theory. That 
theory, however, was based upon his belief in the rotund- 
ity of the earth. The best proof that he was not seriously 
influenced by the Norse voyages, even if he had heard of 
them, is the fact that he never used them as an argument. 
In persuading people to furnish money for his enterprise, 
it has been well said that an ounce of Vinland would have 
been worth a pound of talk about the shape of the earth. 



CRITICAL DAYS. 

John Milner Fothergill, M. D., an English physician. Born at 
Morland in Westmoreland, April ii, 1841; died, 1S88. 

Columbus was an Italian who possessed all that deter- 
mination which came of Norse blood combined with the 
subtlety of the Italian character. He thought much of 
what the ancients said of a short course from Spain to 
India, of Plato's Atlantic Island; and conceived the idea of 
sailing to India over the Atlantic. He applied to the 
Genoese, who rejected his scheme as impracticable; then to 
Portugal, then to Spain. The fall of Granada led to his 
ultimate success; and at last he set out into the unknown 
sea with a small fleet, which was so ill-formed as scarcely 
to reach the Canaries in safety. Soon after leaving them, 



'' COLUMBUS. 135 

the spirits of his crew fell, and then Columbus perceived 
that the art of governing the minds of men would be no less 
requisite for accomplishing the discoveries he had in view 
than naval skill and undaunted courage. He could trust 
himself only. He regulated everything by his sole author- 
ity; he superintended the execution of every order. As he 
went farther westward the hearts of his crew failed them, 
and mutiny was imminent. But Columbus retained his 
serenity of mind even under these trying circumstances, and 
induced his crew to persevere for three days more. Three 
critical days in the history of the world. 



AN APPROPRIATE HOUR. 

John Foster, a noted English essayist and moralist. Born at Halifax, 
September 17, 1770; died at Stapleton, October, 1843. 

The /tour just now begun may be exactly the period for 
dmshing some grea^ J>/an, or conclnding some greaf dispensa- 
iioH, which thousands of years or ages have been advancing 
to its accomplishment. T/ii's may be the very hour in 
which a new world shall originate or an ancient one sink 
in ruins. 



RANGE OF ENTERPRISE. 

Edward Augustus Freeman, a celebrated English historian. Born at 
Harborne, Staffordshire, 1823; died at Alicante, Spain, March 16, 
1892. From an article on " The Intellectual Development of the 
English People," in the Chaulauquan Alagaziiw, May, 1 891. 

The discovery of a new world was something so startling 
as to help very powerfully in the general enlargement of 
men's minds. And the phrase of a new world is fully 
justified. The discovery of a western continent, which 
followed on the voyage of Columbus, was an event differing 
in kind from any discovery that had ever been made before. 
And this though there is little reason to doubt that the 



136 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

western continent itself had been discovered before. The 
Northmen had certainly found their way to the real conti- 
nent of North America ages before Columbus found his 
way to the West India Islands. But the same results did 
not come of it, and the discovery itself was not of the same 
kind. The Old World had grown a good deal before the 
discovery of the New. The range of men's thoughts and 
enterprise had gradually spread from the Mediterranean to 
the Atlantic, the Baltic, and the northern seas. To advance 
from Norway to the islands north of Britain, thence to Ice- 
land, Greenland, and the American continent, was a gradual 
process. The great feature in the lasting discovery of 
America, which began at the end of the fifteenth century, 
was its suddenness. Nothing led to it; it was made by an 
accident; men were seeking one thing and then found 
another. Nothing like it has happened before or since. 



FRIDAY. 

Of evil omen for the ancients. For America the day of glad tidings 
and glorious deeds. 

Friday, the sixth day of the week, has for ages borne the 
obloquy of odium and ill-luck. Friday, October 5th, B. C. 
105, was marked nefastus in the Roman calendar because 
on that day Marcus Mallius and C^epio the Consul were 
slain and their whole army annihilated m Gallia Narbonen- 
sis by the Cimbrians. It was considered a very unlucky 
day in Spain and Italy; it is still deemed an ill-starred day 
among the Buddhists and Brahmins. The reason given by 
Christians for its ill-luck is, of course, because it was the 
day of Christ's crucifixion, though one would hardly term 
that an " unlucky event " for Christians. A Friday moon 
is considered unlucky for weather. It is the Mohammedan 
Sabbath and was the day on which Adam was created. 
The Sabeans consecrated it to Venus or Astarte. Accord- 



COLUMBUS 137 

ing to mediseval romance, on this day fairies and all the 
tribes of elves of every description were converted into 
hideous animals and remained so until Monday, In Scot- 
land it is a great day for weddings. In England it is not. 
Sir William Churchill says, " Friday is my lucky day. I was 
born, christened, married, and knighted on that day, and 
all my best accidents have befallen me on a Friday." 
Aurungzebe considered Friday a lucky day and used to say 
in prayer, " Oh, that I may die on a Friday, for blessed is 
he that dies on that day." British popular saying terms a 
trial, misfortune, or cross a " Friday tree," from the 
"accursed tree" on which the Savior was crucified on 
that day. Stow, the historian of London, states that 
" Friday Street " was so called because it was the street of 
fish merchants who served the Friday markets. In the 
Roman Catholic church Friday is a fast day, and is con- 
sidered an unlucky day because it was the day of Christ's 
crucifixion. Soames ("Anglo-Saxon Church," page 255) 
says of it, " Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit on Friday 
and died on Frida5^" Shakspere refers to the ill-omened 
nature of the day as follows: "The duke, I say to thee 
again, would eat mutton Friday" (" Measure for Measure," 
Act 3, Scene 2). 

But to turn to the more pleasing side, great has been the 
good fortune of the land of freedom on this ill-starred day. 
On Friday, August 3, 1492, Christopher Columbus set sail 
from the port of Palos on his great voyage of discovery. 
On Friday, October 12, 1492, he discovered land; on Friday, 
January 4, 1493, he sailed on his return voyage to Spain. On 
Friday, March 14, 1493, he arrived at Palos, Spain, in 
safety. On Friday, November 22, 1493, he arrived at 
Espafiola on his second voyage to America. On Friday, 
June 12, 1494, he discovered the mainland of America. 
On Friday, March 5, 1496, Henry VIII, gave John Cabot 



138 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

his commission to pursue the discovery of America. On 
Friday, September 7, 1565, Melendez founded St. Augustine, 
Florida, the oldest town in the United States. On Fri- 
day, November 10, 1620, the Mayflower, with the Pilgrim 
Fathers, reached the harbor of Provincetown. On Friday, 
December 22, 1620, the Pilgrim Fathers landed at Plymouth 
Rock. On Friday, February 22, 1732, George Washing- 
ton was born. On Friday, June 16, 1755, Bunker Hill was 
seized and fortified. On Friday, October 17, 1777, Bur- 
goyne surrendered at Saratoga. On Friday, September 22, 
^780, Benedict Arnold's treason was discovered. On 
Friday, September 19, 1791, Lord Cornwallis surrendered 
at Yorktown. On Friday, July 7, 1776, a motion was 
'Made by John Adams that " the United States are and 
I lught to be independent." On Friday, July 13, 1866, the 
Great Eastern steamship sailed from Valentia, Ireland, 
with the second and successful Atlantic cable, and com- 
pleted the laying of this link of our civilization at Heart's 
Content, Newfoundland, on Friday, July 27, 1866. In 
Spanish history it is noteworthy that on Friday the Chris- 
tians under Ferdinand and Isabella had won Granada from 
the Moors. On a Friday, also, the First Crusaders, under 
Geoffrey de Bouillon, took Jerusalem. 



A PREVIOUS DISCOVERY. 

Paul Gaffarel. Summarized from " Les D(^couvreurs rran9ais du 
XlV'"e au XVl"^" Siecle," published at Paris in 1S88. 

Jean Cousin, in 1488, sailed from Dieppe, then the great 
commercial and naval port of F" ranee, and bore out to sea, 
to avoid the storms so prevalent in the Bay of Biscay. 
Arrived at the latitude of the Azores, he was carried west- 
ward by a current, and came to an unknown country near 
the mouth of an immense river. He took possession of 



COLUMBUS. 139 

the continent, but, as he had not sufificient crew nor 
material resources adequate for founding a settlement, he 
re-embarked. Instead of returning directly to Dieppe, he 
took a southeasterly direction — that is, toward South 
Africa — discovered the cape which has since retained the 
name of Cap des Aiguilles (Cape Agulhas, the southern 
point of Africa), went north by the Congo and Guinea, and 
returned to Dieppe in 1489. Cousin's lieutenant was a 
Castilian, Pinzon by name, who was jealous of his captain, 
and caused him considerable trouble on the Gold Coast. 
On Cousin's complaint, the admiralty declared him unfit 
to serve in the marine of Dieppe. Pinzon then retired to 
Genoa, and afterward to Castille. Every circumstance 
tends toward the belief that this is the same Pinzon to 
whom Columbus afterward intrusted the command of the 
Pinta. 



GENIUS TRAVELS EAST TO WEST. 

The Abbe Fernando Galiani, an Italian political economist. Born at 
Chieti, on the Abruzzi, 1728; died at Naples, 1787. 

For five thousand years genius has turned opposite to 
the diurnal motion, and traveled from east to west. 



OBSERVATION LIKE COLUMBUS. 

The Rev. Cunningham Geikie, D. D., a noted English clergyman. 
Born at Edinborough, October 26, 1826. 

Reading should be a Columbus voyage, in which nothing 
passes without note and speculation; the Sargasso Sea, 
mistaken for the New Indies; the branch with the fresh 
berries; the carved pole; the currents; the color of the 
water; the birds; the odor of the land; the butterflies; the 
moving light on the shore. 



140 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

THE GENOA INSCRIPTION. 

The following inscription is placed upon Columbus' 
house, No. 37, in the Vico Dritto Ponticello, Genoa, Italy: 

NVLLA. DOMVS. TITVLO. DIGNIOR. 

HAEIC. 

PATERNIS. IN. AEDIBVS. 

CHRISTOPHVS. COLVMBVS. 

PRIMAQVE. yVVENTAM. TRANSEGIT. 

(No house deserved better an inscription. 

This is the paternal home of Christopher Columbus, where 

he passed his childhood and youth.) 



THE GENOA STATUE. 

" Genoa and Venice," writes Mr. Oscar Browning, in Pict- 
uresque Europe, " have much in common — both republics, 
both aristocracies, both commercial, both powerful mari- 
time states; yet, while the Doge of Venice remains to us as 
the embodiment of stately and majestic pre-eminence, we 
scarcely remember, or have forgotten, that there ever was a 
Doge of Genoa. This surely can not be because Shaks- 
pere did not write of the Bank of St. George or because 
Genoa has no Rialto. It must be rather because, while 
Genoa devoted herself to the pursuits of riches and mag- 
nificence, Venice fought the battle of Europe against bar- 
barism, and recorded her triumphs in works of art which 
will live forever. * * * Genoa has no such annals and 
no such art. As we wander along the narrow streets we 
see the courtyards of many palaces, the marble stairs, the 
graceful loggia, the terraces and the arches of which stand 
out against an Italian sky; but we look in vain for the 
magnificence of public halls, where the brush of Tintoretto 
or Carpaccio decorated the assembly-room of the rulers of 
the East or the chapter-house of a charitable fraternity." 



COLUMBUS. 141 

■ The artistic monument of Columbus, situated in the 
Piazza Acquaverde, facing the railway station, consists of 
a marble statue fitly embowered amid tropical palms, and is 
composed of a huge quadrangular pedestal, at the angles 
of which are seated allegorical figures of Religion, Geogra- 
phy, Strength, and Wisdom. Resting on this pedestal is a 
large cylindrical pedestal decorated with three ships' prows, 
on which stands a colossal figure of Columbus, his left hand 
resting on an anchor. At his feet, in a half-sitting, half- 
kneeling posture, is an allegorical figure of America in the 
act of adoring a crucifix, which she holds in her right hand. 
The four bas-reliefs on the sides of the pedestal represent 
the most important events in the life of the great discov- 
erer: (i) Columbus before the Council of Salamanca; (2) 
Columlius taking formal possession of the New World; (3) 
his flattering reception at the court of Ferdinand and Isa- 
bella; (4) Columbus in chains. It is as well that this, the 
saddest of episodes, should be remembered, because great 
actions are as often as not emphasized by martyrdom. 

The first stone of the monument was laid September 27, 
1846, and the completed statue formally dedicated in 1862, 
It bears the laconic but expressive dedication: "A Cris- 
toforo Colombo, La Patria " (The Nation to Christopher 
Columbus). 

Genoa claims, with the largest presumption of truth, that 
Christopher Columbus was born there. The best of his- 
torical and antiquarian research tends to show that in a 
house, No. 37, in the Vico Dritto Ponticello, lived Domen- 
ico Colombo, the father of Christopher, and that in this 
house the Great Admiral was born. In 1887 the Genoese 
municipality bought the house, and an inscription has been 
placed over the door. To give the exact date of Chris- 
topher's birth is, however, difficult, but it is believed to 



142 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA, 

have occurred sometime between March 15, 1446, and 
March 20, 1447. 

Whether Columbus was actually a native of Genoa or of 
Cogoletto — the latter is a sequestered little town a few 
miles west of the former — must ever remain a matter of 
conjecture. True enough, the house in which his father 
followed the trade of a wool-carder in Genoa is eagerly 
pointed out to a stranger; but the inscription on the marble 
tablet over the entrance does not state that the future dis- 
coverer was really born in it. This stands in a narrow alley 
designated the Vico di Morcento, near the prison of San 
Andrea. 

On the other hand, the little town hall at Cogoletto con- 
tains a portrait of Columbus, more than 300 years old, 
whose frame is completely covered with the names of 
enthusiastic travelers. The room in which he is believed to 
have been born resembles a cellar rather than aught else; 
while the broken pavement shows how visitors have at 
various times taken up the bricks to preserve as relics. As 
if this undoubted evidence of hero worship were insufificient, 
the old woman in charge of the place hastens to relate how 
a party of Americans one day lifted the original door off 
its hinges and carried it bodily away between them. 

As all the world knows, Columbus died at Valladolid on 
the 20th of May, 1506. It has always been a matter 
of intense regret to the Genoese that his body should 
have been permitted to he shipped across the seas to its 
first resting-place in San Domingo. More fortunate, how- 
ever, were they in securing the remains of their modern 
kinsman and national patriot, Mazzini. 

On the 29th of May, 1892, under the auspices of Ligunan 
Gymnastic Society Cristofore Columbo, a bronze wreath 
was placed at the base of the Columbus monument. 

The Ligunan Gymnastic Society Cristofore Columbo is 



COLUMBUS. 143 

an association which cultivates athletic exercises, music, 
and, above all, patriotism and charity. To awaken popular 
interest in the coming exhibition, the society had a bronze 
wreath made by the well-known sculptor Burlando, and fit- 
ting ceremonies took place, with a procession through the 
streets, before affixing the wreath at the base of the monu- 
ment. The wreath, which weighed some 500 pounds, was 
carried by a figure representing Genoa seated on a tri- 
umphal car. There were 7,000 members of the society 
present, with not less than fifty bands of music. The cere- 
monies, beginning at 10 a. m., were concluded at 4 p. m. 
The last act was a hymn^ sung by 2,000 voices, with superb 
effect. Then, by means of machinery, the bronze crown 
was put in its proper position. Never was Genoa in a 
gayer humor, nor could the day have been more propitious. 
The streets were decorated with flowers and banners. 
There were representatives from Rome, Florence, Milan, 
Turin, Venice, Naples, Leghorn, Palermo, and visitors from 
all parts of Europe and America. In the evening only did 
the festivities close with a grand dinner given by the Geno- 
ese municipality. 

In this, the glorification of the grand old city of Liguna, 
was united that of its most memorable man, Christopher 
Columbus, for that mediaeval feeling, when cities had 
almost individual personalities, is still a civic sense alive in 
Genoa. She rejoices in the illustrious men born within her 
walls with a sentiment akin to that of a mother for her son. 

In an artistic sense, nothing could have been more com- 
plete than this festival. Throwing the eye upward, beyond 
the figure of Columbus, the frame is perfect. The slanting 
ways leading up to the handsome houses on the back- 
ground are wonderfully effective. 

Genoa is rich in the relics of Columbus. In the city hall 
of Genoa is, among other relics, a mosaic portrait of the 



144 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

Admiral, somewhat modified from the De Bry's Columbus. 
Genoa is fortunate in possessing a number of authentic 
letters of Columbus, and these are preserved in a marble 
custodia, surmounted by a head of Columbus. In the pillar 
which forms the pedestal there is a bronze door, and the 
precious Columbus documents have been placed there. 



GERMANY AND COLUMBUS. 

The Geographical Society of Germany will shortly pub- 
lish a volume commemorative of the 400th anniversary of 
the discovery of America by Columbus, which will, it is 
said, be one of the most elaborate publications ever issued 
by the society. Dr. Konrad Kretschmer, the editor of the 
forthcoming work, has visited all the principal libraries of 
Italy in search of material, and has had access to many 
rare manuscripts hitherto unused. Tlie memorial volume 
will contain forty-five maps relating to the discovery of 
America, thirty-one of which are said to have never been 
published. Emperor William has contributed 15,000 marks 
toward the expenses of publication, etc., and the work 
will undoubtedly be a most valuable contribution to the 
early history of America. It is expected that it will leave 
the government printing office early in August. 



GERMANY S EXHIBIT OF RARITIES. 

Germany proposes to loan a collection of Columbus rari- 
ties to the United States Government for exhibition at the 
Chicago Exposition, as will be seen by a communication to 
the State Department from Consul-general Edwards at 
Berlin. In his document, Mr. Edwards says: 

The German government, appreciating the fact that no 
time is to be lost in this matter, has begun to carry its gen- 
erous and friendly proposals into practical operation by 
instituting a thorough search in the various galleries, muse- 




HOUSE OF COLUMBUS. 

No. 37 Vico Dfitto Ponticelli, Genoa, Italy. 

( See page 140,) 



COLUMBUS. 145 

urns, and libraries throughout Germany for works of art, 
objects, and rarities which are in any way identified with 
the Columbus period, and which the German government 
believes would be likely to be of general interest to the 
authorities of the World's Columbian Exposition as well as 
the visitors at that great show. 

Among other works of art the German government con- 
sents to loan Pludderman's celebrated painting, " The Dis- 
covery of America by Columbus." Under the laws of 
Germany, as well as under the rules and regulations of the 
National Gallery, no person is permitted to lithograph, 
photograph, or make any sort of a copy of any picture or 
other work of art in the care or custody of any national 
gallery, in case when the artist has not been dead for a 
period of thirty years, without having first obtained the 
written permission of the legal representative of the 
deceased artist, coupled with the consent of the National 
Gallery authorities. Pludderman not having been dead 
thirty years, I have given assurances that this regulation 
will be observed by the United States Government. 



THE REASON FOR SAILORS SUPERSTITIONS. 

The Right Rev. James Gibbons, D. D., a celebrated American arch- 
bishop. Born in Baltimore, Md., July 23, 1834. 

There is but a plank between a sailor and eternity, and 
perhaps the realization of that fact may have something to 
do with the superstition lurking in his nature. 



ONCE THE PILLARS OF HERCULES WERE THE END OF THE 

WORLD. 

William Gibson. 
Thus opening on that glooming sea, 

Well seemed these walls ^^ the ends of earth; 

*' The Rock of Gibraltar is referred to. 
10 



146 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

Death and a dark eternity 
Sublimely symboled forth! 

Ere to one eagle soul was given 

The will, the wings, that deep to brave; 

In the sun's path to find a heaven, 
A New World — o'er the wave. 

Retraced the path Columbus trod, 
Our course was from the setting sun; 

While all the visible works of God, 
Though various else had one. 



NEW LIGHT ON CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 
From the Glasgow Times. 

The discovery by the Superintendent of the Military 
Archives at Madrid of documents probably setting at rest 
the doubts that formerly existed as to the birthplace of 
Columbus, must have awakened new interest in the history 
of the most renowned discoverer of the past. It is to be 
noted, however, that the documents only affirm tradition, 
for Genoa has always been the Admiral's accredited birth- 
place. But if the discovery should lead to nothing but a 
more careful investigation of the records of his later his- 
tory it will have been of use. 

The character of Columbus has been greatly misunder- 
stood, and his 600 biographers have in turn invested him 
with the glory of the religious hero and the contumely of 
the ill-tempered and crack-brained adventurer. An impar- 
tial critic must admit, indeed, that he was something of 
both, though more of the hero than the adventurer, and 
that his biographers have erred considerably in what Mr. 
R. L. Stevenson would call their "point of view." 

Educated, as it is supposed, in the local schools of 



COLUMBUS, 147 

Genoa, and for a short period at the University of Pavia, 
the youthful Columbus must have come in close contact 
with the scholars of the day. Naturally of a religious 
temperament, the piety of the learned would early impress 
him, and to this may possibly be attributed the feeling 
that he had been divinely selected, which remained with 
him until his death. 

There is little doubt that he began his career as a sailor, 
at the age of fourteen, with the sole object of plunder. 
The Indies were the constant attraction for the natives of 
Venice and Genoa; the Mediterranean and the Adriatic 
were filled with treasure ships. In these circumstances it 
is not to be wondered that the sea possessed a wonderful 
fascination for the youth of those towns. This opulence 
was the constant envy of Spain and Portugal, and Colum- 
bus was soon attracted to the latter country by the desire 
of Prince Henry to discover a southern route to the Indies. 
It was while in Portugal that he began to believe that his 
mission on earth was to be the discoverer of a new route 
to the land of gold — "the white man's god." For two 
years he resided in Lisbon, from time to time making 
short voyages, but for the most part engaged drawing maps 
to procure himself a living. Here he married, here his son 
Diego was born, and here his wife, who died at an early age, 
was buried. 

Toscanelli at this time advanced the theory that the 
earth was round, and Columbus at once entered into corre- 
spondence with him on the subject, and was greatly 
impressed with the views of the Florentine scientist, both as 
to the sphericity of the world and the wonders of the 
Asiatic region. Heresy-hunting was then a favorite pas- 
time, and Columbus in accepting these theories ran no 
small risk of losing his life. Portugal and France in turn 
rejected his offers to add to their dependencies by his 



148 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

discoveries; and, though his brother found many in England 
willing to give him the necessary ships to start on his 
adventures, Spain, after much importuning on the part of 
the explorer, foreslallcd our own country. 

Then followed his four eventful voyages with all their 
varying fortunes, and his death, when over seventy years 
of age, in a wretched condition of poverty. The ready 
consideration of theories, not only dangerous but so 
astounding in their character as to throw discredit on those 
who advanced them, shows him to have been a man of 
intellectual courage. Humility was another trait of his 
character, and in all his life it can not be said that he acted 
in any but an honest and straightforward manner toward 
his fellow-men. 

It is true, no doubt, that his recognition of slavery some- 
what dims his reputation. He sold many Indians as slaves, 
but It should be remembered that slavery prevailed at the 
time, and it was only on his second voyage, when hard 
pressed for means to reimburse the Spanish treasury for 
the immense expense of the expedition, that he resorted to 
the barter in human flesh. Indeed, his friendly relations 
with the natives show that, as a rule, he must have treated 
them in the kindly manner which characterized all his 
actions. 

Throughout the reverses of his long career, whether 
received with sneers, lauded as a benefactor of his country, 
put in chains by crafty felloW-subjects, or defrauded, by an 
unscrupulous prince, of the profit of his discoveries, he 
continued a man of an eminently lovable character, kind 
to his family, his servants, and even his enemies. Ameri- 
cans are to do honor at the Columbian Exhibition to the 
name of him who, though not the first white man to land' 
on the shcjres of the New World, was the first to colonize 
its fertile islands. Not only America, but the whole world. 



COLUMBUS. 149 

may emulate his virtues with advantage; for, even now, 
justice and mercy, courage and meekness, do not always 
abide together. 



SECRET. 

Frank B, Goodrich, an American author of several popular books. 
Born in Boston, 1326. From his " History of the Sea." 

John II. of Portugal applied for an increase of power, 
and obtained a grant of all the lands which his navigators 
could discover in sailing/r<?;« west to east. The grand idea 
of sailing from east to west — one which implied a knowl- 
edge of the sphericity of the globe — had not yet, to out- 
ward appearance, penetrated the brain of either pope or 
layman. One Christopher Columbus, however, was already 
brooding over it in secret and in .silence. 



THE PERIOD. 

FRAN901.S Pierre Guillaume Guizot, a distinguished French statesman 
and historian. Born at Nimes, October4, 1787; died .September 12, 
1874. From his " History of Civilization" (5 vols., 1845). 

The period in question was also one of the most remark- 
able for the display of physical activity among men. It 
was a period of voyages, travels, enterprises, discoveries, 
and inventions of every kind. It was the time of the great 
Portuguese expedition along the coast of Africa; of the 
discovery of the new passage to India, by Vasco de Gama; 
of the discovery of America, by Christopher Columbus; of 
the wonderful extension of European commerce. A thou- 
sand new inventions started up; others already known, but 
confined within a narrow sphere, became popular and in 
general use. Gunpowder changed the system of war; the 
compass changed the system of navigation. Painting in 
oil was invented, and filled Europe with masterpieces of 
art. Engraving on copper, invented in 1406, multiplied 



150 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

and diffused them. Paper made of linen became common. 
Finally, between 1436 and 1452, was invented printing — 
printing, the theme of so many declamations and common- 
places, but to whose merits and effect no commonplaces or 
declamations will ever be able to do justice. 



MORNING TRIUMPHANT. 

Rev. F. W. GuNSAULUS, D. D., an American divine and able pulpit 
orator; at present, pastor of Plymouth Church, Chicago. From 
" New Testament and Liberty." 

Look again! It has become so light now that it is easy 
to see. Yonder in the West a man has been pleading before 
courts, praying to God, thinking, and dreaming. His brave 
heart sends forth hot tears, but it will not fail. The genius 
of God has seized him. The Holy Ghost has touched 
him as the spirit of liberty. Humanity cries through him 
for more room. Emperors will not hear. But he gains 
one ear, at last, and with the mariner's needle set out for 
the unknown. Civilization has always walked by faith and 
not by sight. And do not forget to note, that, in that log- 
book, the first mark is, "In the name of our Lord Jesus 
Christ." On! brave man, on! over wastes of ocean, in the 
midst of scorn, through hate, rage, mutiny, even death — and 
despair, worse than death. On! there is an America on 
the other side to balance. Cheerless nights, sad days, 
nights dark with woe, days hideous with the form of death, 
weeks sobbing with pity; but in that heart is He whose name 
is written in the log-book. "Land ahead! " And Columbus 
has discovered a continent. Humanity has another world. 
Light from the four corners of heaven. Glory touching 
firmament and planet. It is morning! Triumphant, beau- 
tiful dawn! 



COLUMBUS. 151 

TENDENCY. 

Arnold Henry Guyot, Ph. D., LL. D., a meritorious writer on phys- 
ical geography. Born near Neufchatel, Switzerland, 1807. Pro- 
fessor of geology and physical geography at Princeton College 
from 1855 until his death, February 8, 1884. From " Earth and 
Man" (1849). 

As the plant is made for the animal, as the vegetable 
world is made for the animal world, America is made for 
the man of the Old World. The man of the Old World 
sets out upon his way. Leaving the highlands of Asia, he 
descends from station to station toward Europe. Each of 
his steps is marked by a new civilization superior to the 
preceding, by a greater power of development. Arrived 
at the Atlantic, he pauses on the shore of this unknown 
ocean, the bounds of which he knows not, and turns upon 
his footprints for an instant; then recommences his advent- 
urous career westward as in the earliest ages. 



NEW LIFE. 

Edward Everett Hale, D. D., a celebrated American author. Born 
in Boston, Mass., April 3, 1822. From an article, "Christopher 
Columbus," in the Independent, June 2, 1892. 

What the world owes to him and to Isabella, who made 
his work possible, it is impossible in few words to say. 
The moment was one when Europe needed America as 
never before. She had new life, given by the fall of Con- 
stantinople, by the invention of printing, by the expulsion 
of the Moors; there was new life even seething in the first 
heats of the Reformation; and Europe must break her 
bonds, else she would die. Her outlet was found in 
America. Here it is that that Power who orders history 
could try, on a fit scale, the great experiments of the new 
life. Thus it was ordered, let us say reverently, that South 
America should show what the Catholic church could do 



152 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

in the line of civilizing a desert, and that North America 
should show what the coming church of the future could 
do. To us it is interesting to remember that Columbus 
personally led the first discovery of South America, and 
that he made the first effort for a colony on our half of the 
continent. Of these two experiments the North America 
of to-day and South America of to-day are the issue. 

TRIUMPH OF AN IDEA. 

The life of Columbus is an illustration constantly brought 
for the success which God gives to those who, having 
conceived of a great idea, bravely determine to carry it 
through. His singleness of purpose, his determination to 
succeed, have been cited for four centuries, and will be 
cited for centuries more among the noblest illustrations 
which history has given of success wrought out by the 
courage of one man. — Ibid. 



THE EAST LONGED FOR THE WEST. 

Edward Everett Hale, in Overland Monthly Magazine. An article 
on " A Visit to Palos." 

Lord Houghton, following Freiligrath, has sung to us 
how the 

Palm tree dreameth of the pine, 
The pine tree of the palm; 

and in his delicate imaginings the dream is of two conti- 
nents — ocean parted — each of which longs for the other. 
Strange enough, as one pushes along the steep ascent from 
the landing at Rfibida, up the high bluff on which the 
convent stands, the palm tree and the pine grow together, 
as in token of the dream of the great discoverer, who was 
to unite the continents. 



COLUMBUS. 153 

LIFE FOR LIBERTY. 

Fitz-Greene Halleck, a noted American poet. Born in Guilford, 
Conn., July 8, 1790; died November 19, 1867. 

Thy voice sotinds like a prophet's word, 
And in its hollow tones are heard 

The thanks of millions yet to be. 
Come when his task of fame is wrought, 
Come with her laurel-leaf, blood-bought, 

Come in her crowning hour, and then 
Thy sunken eye's unearthly light 
To him is welcome as the sight 

Of sky and stars to prison'd men; 
Thy grasp is welcome as the hand 
Of brother in a foreign land; 
Thy summons welcome as the cry 
That told the Indian isles were nigh 

To the world-seeking Genoese, 
When the land wind, from woods of palm. 
And orange groves, and fields of balm, 

Blew o'er the Haytian seas. 



GENOA. 

MuRAT Halstead, an American journalist. Born at Ross, Ohio, Sep- 
tember 2, 1829. From "Genoa — the Home of Columbus," a 
paper in Cosmopolitan, May, 1892. 

The Italian coast all around the Gulf of Genoa is 
mountainous, and the mountains crowd each other alinost 
into the sea. Land that can be built upon or cultivated is 
scarce, and the narrow strips that are possible are on the 
sunny southern slopes. The air is delicious. The orange 
trees in December lean over the garden walls, heavy with 
golden spheres, and the grass is green on the hills, and 
when a light snow falls the roses blush through the soft 
veil of lace, and are modest but not ashamed, as they bow 



154 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

their heads. The mountains are like a wall of iron against 
the world, and from them issues a little river whose waters 
are pure as the dew, until the washerwomen use them and 
spread clothing on the wide spaces of clean gravel to dry. 
The harbor is easily defended, and with the same expensive 
equipment would be strong as Gibraltar. It is in this iso- 
lation that the individuality of Genoa, stamped upon so 
many chapters of world-famous history, grew. There is so 
little room for a city that the buildings are necessarily lofty. 
The streets are narrow and steep. The pavements are 
blocks of stone that would average from two to three feet 
in length, one foot in width, and of unknown depth. Evi- 
dently they are not constructed for any temporary purpose, 
but to endure forever. When, for a profound reason, a 
paving-stone is taken up it is speedily replaced, with the 
closest attention to exact restoration, and then it is again a 
rock of ages. 



THE CELEBRATION AT HAMBURG. 

Among the celebrations of the 400th anniversary of the 
discovery of America, that of the city of Hamburg, in Ger- 
many, will occupy a prominent place. On October ist an 
exhibition will be opened at which objects will be on view 
that bear on the history of the act of discovery, on the 
condition of geographical science of the time, and on the 
conditions of the inhabitants of America at the time of 
the discovery. Side by side with these will be exhibited 
whatever can show the condition of America at the present 
time. On the date of the discovery of the little Island of 
Guanahani — that is, October 12th — the celebration proper 
will take place. The exercises will consist of songs and 
music and a goodly array of speeches. In the evening, tab- 
leaux and processions will be performed in the largest hall 
of the city. The scenery, costumes, and implements used 



COLUMBUS. 155 

will all be got up as they were at the time of the discovery, 
so as to furnish a real representation of the age of 
Columbus. 



SEEKER AND SEER — A RHYME FOR THE DEDICATION OF 

THE world's FAIR. 
Edward J. Harding, in the Chicago Tribune, September 17, 1892, 

I. 
What came ye forth to see? 
Why from the sunward regions of the palm, 
And piney headlands by the northern main, 
From Holland's watery ways and parching Spain, 
From pleasant France and storied Italy, 
From India's patience, and from Egypt's calm. 
To this far city of a soil new-famed 
Come ye in festal guise to-day, 
Charged with no fatal *' gifts of Greece," 
Nor Punic treaties double-tongued. 
But proffering hands of. amity, 
And speaking messages of peace, 
With drum-beats ushered, and with shouts acclaimed, 
While cannon-echoes lusty-lung 'd 
Reverberate far away? 

IV. 

Our errand here to-day 

Hath warrant fair, ye say; 

We come with you to consecrate 
A hero's and a prophet's monument; 

Yet needs he none, who was so great; 
Vainly they build in Cuba's isle afar 
His sepulcher beside the sapphire sea; 
He hath for cenotaph a continent. 
For funeral wreaths, the forests waving free, 



166 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

And round his grave go ceaselessly 

The morning and the evening star. 
Yet is it fit that ye should praise him best, 

For ye his true descendants are, 

A spirit-begotten progeny; 
Wherefore to thee, fair city of the West, 

From elder lands we gladly came 

To grace a prophet's fame. 

V. 

Beauteous upon the waters were the wings 
That bore glad tidings o'er the leaping wave 
Of sweet Hesperian isles, more bland and fair 
Than lover's looks or bard's imaginings; 
And blest was he, the hero brave, 
Who first the tyrannous deeps defied. 
And o'er the wilderness of waters wide 
A sun-pursuing highway did prepare 

For those true-hearted exiles few 
The house of Liberty that reared anew. 
Nor fails he here of honor due. 
These goodly structures ye behold, 
These towering piles in order brave, 
From whose tall crests the pennons wave 
Like tropic plumage, gules and gold; 
These ample halls, wherein ye view 
Whate'er is fairest wrought and best — 
South with North vying, East with West, 
And arts of yore with science new — 
Bear witness for us how religiously 
We cherish here his memory. 

VL 

Yet sure, the adventurous Genoese 
Did never in his most enlightened hours 



COLUMBUS. 157 

Forecast the high, the immortal destinies 

Of this dear land of ours. 
Nay, could ye call him hither from his tomb, 
Think ye that he would mark with soul elate 
A kingless people, a schismatic State, 
Nor on his work invoke perpetual doom? 
Though the whole Sacred College o'er and o'er 
Pronounce him sainted, prophet was he none 
Who to Cathaia's legendary shore 

Deemed that his bark a path had won. 

In sooth, our Western pioneer 

Was all as prescient as he 

Who cried, "The desert shall exult. 

The wild shall blossom as the rose." 

And to a passing rich result 

Through summer heats and winter snows 

Toiling to prove himself a seer, 

Accomplished his own prophecy. 

Lo, here a greater far than he, 

A prophet nation hath its dwelling. 

With multitudinous voice foretelling, 
" Man shall be free! " 

VII. 

Hellas for Beauty, Rome for Order, stood, 

And Israel for the Good; 
Our message to the world is Liberty; 
Not the rude freedom of anarchic hordes. 
But reasoned kindness, whose benignant code 
Upon the emblazoned walls of history 

We carved with our good swords, 

And crimsoned with our blood. 
Last, from our eye we plucked the obscuring mote, 
Not without tears expelled, and sharpest pain; 



158 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

From swarthy limbs the galling chain 

With siiock on mighty shock we smote, 

Whereby with clearer gaze we scan 
The heaven-writ message that we bear for man. 
Not ours to give, as erst the Genoese, 

Of a new world the keys; 
But of the prison-world ye knew before 

Hewing in twain the door, 
To thralls of custom and of circumstance 

We preach deliverance. 
O self-imprisoned ones, be free! be free! 
These fetters frail, by doting ages wrought 
Of basest metals — fantasy and fear, 
And ignorance dull, and fond credulity — 

Have moldered, lo! tkis many a year; 
See, at a touch they part, and fall to naught! 
Yours is the heirship of the universe. 
Would ye but claim it, nor from eyes averse 
Let fall the tears of needless misery; 

Deign to be free! 



The prophets perish, but their word endures; 
The word abides, the prophets pass away; 
Far be the hour when Hellas' fate is yours, 
O Nation of the newer day! 

Unmeet it were that I, 
Who sit beside your hospitable fire 
A stranger burn — though honoring as a sire 
The land that binds me with a closer tie 
Than hers that bore me — should from sullen throat 
Send forth a raven's ominous note 

Upon a day of jubilee. 

Yet signs of coming ill I see, 



COLUMBUS. 159 

Which Heaven avert! Nay, rather let me deem 

That Hke a bright and broadening stream 
Fed by a hundred affluents, each a river 
Far-sprung and full, Columbia's life shall flow 
By level meads majestically slow, 

Blessing and blest forever! 



THE JESUIT GEOGRAPHER, 
Jean Hardouin, a French Jesuit. Born at Quimper, 1646; died, 1729, 
The rotation of the earth is due to the efforts of the 
damned to escape from their central fire. Climbing up the 
walls of hell, they cause the earth to revolve as a squirrel 
its cage. 



COLUMBUS DAY. 

By the Preside tit of the United States of America. A proC' 
lamatioH: 

Whereas, By a joint resolution, approved June 29, 1892, 
it was resolved by the Senate and House of Representa- 
tives of the United States of America, in Congress assem- 
bled, " That the President of the United States be author- 
ized and directed to issue a proclamation recommending to 
the people the observance in all their localities of the 400th 
anniversary of the discovery of America, on the 21st day 
of October, 1892, by public demonstration and by suitable 
exercises in their schools and other places of assembly." 

Now, therefore, I, Benjamin Harrison, President of 
the United States of America, in pursuance of the aforesaid 
joint resolution, do hereby appoint Friday, October 21, 
1892, the 400th anniversary of the discovery of America 
by Columbus, as a general holiday for the people of the 
United States. On that day let the people, so far as pos- 
sible, cease from toil and devote themselves to such exer- 
cises as may best express honor to the discoverer and their 



160 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

appreciation of tlie great achievements of the four com- 
pleted centuries of American life. 

Columbus stood in his age as the pioneer of progress and 
enlightenment. The system of universal education is in 
our age the most prominent and salutary feature of 
the spirit of enlightenment, and it is peculiarly appropriate 
that the schools be made by the people the center of the 
day's demonstration. Let the national flag float over every 
school-house in the country, and the exercises be such as 
shall impress upon our youth the patriotic duties of Ameri- 
can citizenship. 

In the churches and in the other places of assembly of 
the people, let there be expressions of gratitude to Divine 
Providence for the devout faith of the discoverer, and for 
the Divine care and guidance which has directed our his- 
tory and so abundantly blessed our people. 

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand 
and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. 

Done at the city of Washington, this 21st day 
of July, in the year of our Lord one thousand 
eight hundred and ninety-two, and of the 
independence of the United States the one 
'^ hundred and seventeenth. 

Benjamin Harrison. 
By the President. 

John W. Foster, Secretary of State. 



\-\ 



THE ADMIRATION OF A CAREFUL CRITIC. 

Henry Harrisse, a celebrated Columbian critic, in his erudite and 
valuable work, " Columbus and the Bank of St. George." 

Nor must you believe that I am inclined to lessen the 
merits of the great Genoese or fail to admire him. But my 
admiration is the result of reflection, and not a blind hero- 




PORTRAIT OF COLUMBUS, BY SIR ANTONIO MORO. 

Used by Washington Irving to illustrate his " Life of Columbus." From the original tn the 

possession of Mr. C. F. Gunther of Chicago. 

(See pages 52 and 113.) 



COLUMBUS. 161 

worship. Columbus removed out of the range of mere 
speculation the idea that beyond the Atlantic Ocean lands 
existed and could be reached by sea, made of the notion a 
fixed fact, and linked forever the two worlds. That event, 
which is unquestionably the greatest of modern times, 
secures to Columbus a place in the pantheon dedicated to 
the worthies whose courageous deeds mankind will always 
admire. 

But our gratitude must not carry us beyond the limits of 
an equitable appreciation. Indiscriminate praise works 
mischief and injustice. When tender souls represent Colum- 
bus as being constantly the laughing-stock of all, and 
leading a life of misery and abandonment in Spain, they do 
injustice to Deza, to Cabrera, to Quintanilla, to Mendoza, to 
Beatrice de Bobadilla, to Medina-Celi, to Ferdinand and Isa- 
bella, and probably a host of others who upheld him as much 
as they could from the start. When blind admirers imagine 
that the belief in the existence of transatlantic countries 
rushed out of Columbus' cogitations, complete, unaided, 
and alone, just as Minerva sprang in full armor from the 
head of Jupiter, they disregard the efforts of numerous 
thinkers who, from Aristotle and Roger Bacon to Tosca- 
nelli, evolved and matured the thought, until Columbus 
came to realize it. When dramatists, poets, and romancers 
expatiate upon the supposed spontaneous or independent 
character of the discovery of America, and ascribe the 
achievement exclusively to the genius of a single man, 
they adopt a theory which is discouraging and untrue. 

No man is, or ever v/as, ahead of his times. No human 
efforts are, or ever were, disconnected from a long chain of 
previous exertions; and this applies to all the walks of life. 
When a great event occurs, in science as in history, the 
hero who seems to have caused it is only the embodiment 
and resulting force of the meditations, trials, and endeav- 
11 



162 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

ors of numberless generations of fellow-workers, conscious 
and unconscious, known and unknown. 

When this solemn truth shall have been duly instilled 
into the minds of men, we will no longer see them live in 
the constant expectation of Messiahs and providential 
beings destined to accomplish, as by a sort of miracle, the 
infinite and irresistible work of civilization. They will rely 
exclusively upon the concentrated efforts of the whole race, 
and cherish the encouraging thought that, however imper- 
ceptible and insignificant their individual contributions 
may seem to be, these form a part of the whole, and finally 
redound to the happiness and progress of mankind. 



THE CARE OF THE NEW WORLD. 

David Hartley, a celebrated English physician and philosopher. Bom 
at Armley, near Leeds, 1705; died, 1757. 

Those who have the first care of this New World will 
probably give it such directions and inherent influences as 
may guide and control its course and revolutions for ages 
to come. 



THE TRIBUTE OF HEINRICH HEINE. 
Heinrich Heine. Born December 12, 1799, in the Bolkerstrasse at 
Dusseldorf; died in Paris, February 17, 1856. 
Mancher hat schon viel gegeben, 
Aber jener hat der Welt 
Eine ganze Welt geschenkt 
Und sie heisst America. 

Nicht befreien kOnnt'er uns 
J Aus dem orden Erdenkerker 

Doch er wusst ihn zu erweitern 
Und die Kette zu verlangern 

{^Tra?islatton.) 
Some have given much already, 



COLUMBUS. 163 



But this man he has presented 
To the world an entire world, 
With the name Am.erica. 

He could not set us free, out 
Of the dreary, earthly prison, 
But he knew how to enlarge it 
And to lengthen our chain. 



COLUMBUS AIM NOT MERELY SECULAR. 

George Wilhelm F'riedrich Hegel, one of the most eminent philoso- 
phers of the German school of metaphysics. Born at Stuttgart 
in 1770; died in Berlin, 1831. From his " Philosophy of History." 

A leading feature demanding our notice in determining 
the character of this period, might be mentioned that urg- 
ing of the spirit outward, that desire on the part of man 
to become acquainted with his world. The chivalrous 
spirit of the maritime heroes of Portugal and Spain opened 
a new way to the East Indies and discovered America. 
This progressive step also involved no transgression of the 
limits of ecclesiastical principles or feeling. The aim of 
Columbus was by no means a merely secular one; it pre- 
sented also a distinctly religious aspect; the treasures of 
those rich Indian lands which awaited his discovery were 
destined, in his intention, to be expended in a new crusade, 
and the heathen inhabitants of the countries themselves 
were to be converted to Christianity. The recognition of 
the spherical figure of the earth led man to perceive that it 
offered him a definite and limited object, and navigation 
had been benefited by the new-found instrumentality of the 
magnet, enabling it to be something better than mere 
coasting; thus technical appliances make their appearance 
when a need for them is experienced. 

These events — the so-called revival of learning, the flour- 
ishing of the fine arts, and the discovery of America — may 



164 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

be compared with that blush of dawn which after long 
storms first betokens the return of a bright and glorious 
day. This day is the day of universality, which breaks 
upon the world after the long, eventful, and terrible night 
of the Middle Ages. 



THE BELIEF OF COLUMBUS. 

Sir Arthur Helps, a popular English essayist and historian. Born, 
1813; died, March 7, 1875. From his " Life of Columbus" (1869). 

Columbus believed the world to be a sphere; he under- 
estimated its size; he overestimated the size of the Asiatic 
continent. The farther that continent extended to the east, 
the nearer it came round to Spain. 

SPECULATION. 

It has always been a favorite speculation with historians, 
and, indeed, with all thinking men, to consider what would 
have happened from a slight change of circumstances in 
the course of things which led to great events. This may 
be an idle and a useless speculation, but it is an inevitable 
one. Never was there such a field for this kind of specu- 
lation as in the voyages, especially the first one, of Colum- 
bus. * * * The gentlest breeze carried with it the 
destinies of future empires. * * * Had some breeze 
big with the fate of nations carried Columbus northward, 
it would hardly have been left for the English, more than 
a century afterward, to found those colonies which have 
proved to be the seeds of the greatest nation that the 
world is likely to behold. — Ibid. 



RELIGION TURNS TO FREEDOM S LAND. 

George Herbert, an English poet. Born at Montgomery, Wales, 1593; 
died, 1632. 
Religion stands on tiptoe in our land, 
Ready to pass to the American strand. 



COLUMBUS. 165 

THE PERSONAL APPEARANCE OF COLUMBUS. 

Antonio Herrera y Tordesillas, an eminent Spanish historian. Born 
at Cuellar in 1549; died, 1625. 

Columbus was tall of stature, with a long and imposing 
^ visage. His nose was aquiline; his eyes blue; his com- 
plexion clear, and having a tendency to a glowing red; the 
beard and hair red in his youth, but his fatigues early 
turned them white. 



AN INCIDENT OF THE VOYAGE. 

Fernando Herrera, Spanish poet, 1534-1597. 

Many sighed and wept, and every hour seemed a year. 



THE EFFECT OF THE DISCOVERY. 

C. W. HODGIN, professor of history in Earlham College. Indiana. 
From " Preparation for the Discovery of America." 

The discovery of America by Columbus stands out in 
history as an event of supreme importance, both because 
of its value in itself and beca'use of its reflex action upon 
Europe. It swept away the hideous monsters and fright- 
ful apparitions with which a superstitious imagination had 
peopled the unknown Atlantic, and removed at once and 
forever the fancied dangers in the way of its navigation. 
It destroyed the old patristic geography and practically 
demonstrated the rotundity of the earth. It overthrew the 
old ideas of science and gave a new meaning to the 
Baconian method of investigation. It revolutionized the 
commerce of the world, and greatly stimulated the intellect 
of Europe, already awakening from the long torpor of the 
Dark Ages. It opened the doors of a new world, through 
which the oppressed and overcrowded population of the 
Old World might enter and make homes, build states, and 
develop a higher ideal of freedom than the world had 
before conceived. 



166 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA, 

But this event did not come to pass by accident, neither 
was it the result of a single cause. It was the culmination 
of a series of events, each of which had a tendency, more 
or less marked, to concentrate into the close of the fifteenth 
century the results of an instinct to search over unexplored 
seas for unknown lands. 



COLUMBUS THE FIRST DISCOVERER. 

Friedrich Heinrich Alexander, Baron Von Humboldt, the illus- 
trious traveler, naturalist, and cosmographer. Born in Berlin, 
September 14, 1769; died there May 6, 1859. He has been 
well termed "The Modern Aristotle." 

To say the truth, Vespucci shone only by reflection from 
an age of glory. When compared with Columbus, Sebas- 
tian Cabot, Bartolome Dias, and Da Gama, his place is an 
inferior one. 

The majesty of great memories seems concentrated in 
the name of Christopher Columbus, It is the originality 
of his vast idea, the largeness and fertility of his genius, 
and the courage which bore up against a long series of 
misfortunes, which have exalted the Admiral high above 
all his contemporaries. 

THE PENETRATION AND EXTREME ACCURACY OF 

COLUMBUS. 

Columbus preserved, amid so many material and 
minute cares, which freeze the soul and contract the char- 
acter, a profound and poetic sentiment of the grandeur of 
nature. What characterizes Columbus is the penetration 
and extreme accuracy with which he seizes the phenomena 
of the external world. He is quite as remarkable as an 
observer of nature as he is an intrepid navigator. 

Arrived under new heavens, and in a new world, the 
configuration of lands, the aspect of vegetation, the habits 
of animals, the distribution of heat according to longitude, 



COLUMBUS. 167 

the pelagic currents, the variations of terrestrial magnetism 
— nothing escaped his sagacity. Columbus does not limit 
himself to collecting isolated facts, he combines them, he 
seeks their mutual relations to each other. He sometimes 
rises with boldness to the discovery of the general laws 
that govern the physical world. — Ibid. 

A FLIGHT OF PARROTS WAS HIS GUIDING STAR. 

Columbus was guided in his opinion by a flight of parrots 
toward the southwest. Never had the flight of birds more 
important consequences. It may be said to have deter- 
mined the first settlements on the new continent, and its 
distribution between the Latin and Germanic races. — Tbid. 

COLUMBUS A GIANT. 

Columbus is a giant standing on the confines between 
mediaeval and modern times, and his existence marks one 
of the great epochs in the history of the world. — Ibid. 

THE MAJESTY OF GRAND RECOLLECTIONS. 

The majesty of grand recollections seems concentered 
on the illustrious name of Columbus. — Ibid. 



RELIGION. 

John Fletcher Hurst, D. D., LL.D., a noted American Methodist 
bishop. Born near Salem, Md., August 17, 1834. From his 
" Short History of the Church in the United States." Copyright, 
1889. By permissioa of Messrs. Harper & Brothers, Publishers. 

When Columbus discovered the little West India Island 
of San Salvador, and raised upon the shore the cross, he 
dedicated it and the lands beyond to the sovereigns Ferdi- 
nand and Isabella. The '■'■Gloria in £xcelsis" was sung 
by the discoverer and his weary crew with as much fervor 
as it had ever been chanted in the cathedrals of Spain. The 
faith was Roman Catholic. On his second voyage, in 1494, 



168 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

Columbus took with him a vicar apostolic and twelve 
priests, and on the island of Haiti erected the first chapel 
in the western world. ^'' The success of Columbus in discov- 
ering a new world in the West awakened a wild enthusiasm 
throughout Europe. Visions of gold inflamed the minds 
alike of rulers, knights, and adventurers. To discover and 
gather treasures, and organize vast missionary undertak- 
ings, became the mania of the times. No European coun- 
try which possessed a strip of seaboard escaped the 
delirium. 

ARMA VIRUMQUE GANG. 

Washington Irving, one of the most distinguished American authors 
and humorists. Born in New Nork City, April 3, 1783. Died at 
Sunnyside on the Hudson, N. Y., November 28, 1S59. From 
his " History of the Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus" 
(4 vols., 1828). " This is one of those works," says Alexander 
H. Everett, "which are at the same time the delight of readers 
and the despair of critics. It is as nearly perfect as any work 
well can be." 

It is my object to relate the deeds and fortunes of the 
mariner who first had the judgment to divine, and the 
intrepidity to brave, the mysteries of the perilous deep; and 
who, by his hardy genius, his inflexible constancy, and his 
heroic courage, brought the ends of the earth into com- 
munication with each other. The narrative of his troubled 
life is the link which connects the history of the Old World 
with that of the New. 

To his intellectual vision it was given to read the signs of 
the times in the conjectures and reveries of the past ages, 
the indications of an unknown world, as soothsayers were 
said to read predictions in the stars, and to foretell events 
from the visions of the night. 

•''^ The location of the church at Old Isabella has been exactly deter- 
mined, and a noble monument (fully described in these pages) has been 
erected there under the auspices of the Sacred Heart Review of Boston. 



COLUMBUS. 169 

PRACTICAL AND POETICAL. 

He who paints a great man merely in great and heroic 
traits, though he may produce a fine picture, will never 
present a faithful portrait. Great men are compounds of 
great and little qualities. Indeed, much of their greatness 
arises from their mastery over the imperfections of their 
nature, and their noblest actions are sometimes struck forth 
by the collision of their merits and their defects. 

In Columbus were singularly combined the practical and 
the poetical. His mind had grasped all kinds of knowl- 
edge, whether procured by study or observation, which 
bore upon his theories; impatient of the scanty aliment of 
the day, "his impetuous ardor threw him into the study of 
the fathers of the Church, the Arabian Jews, and the ancient 
geographers"; while his daring but irregular genius, 
bursting from the limits of imperfect science, bore him to 
conclusions far beyond the intellectual vision of his con- 
temporaries. If some of his conclusions were erroneous, 
they were at least ingenious and splendid; and their error 
resulted from the clouds which still hung over his peculiar 
path of enterprise. His own discoveries enlightened the 
ignorance of the age, guided conjecture to certainty, and 
dispelled that very darkness with which he had been obliged 
to struggle. 

In the progress of his discoveries, he has been remarked 
for the extreme sagacity and the admirable justness with 
which he seized upon the phenomena of the exterior world. 
As they broke upon him, these phenomena were discerned 
with wonderful quickness of perception, and made to con- 
tribute important principles to the stock of general knowl- 
edge. This lucidity of spirit, this quick convertibility of 
facts to principles, distinguish him from the dawn to the 
close of his sublime enterprise, insomuch that, with all the: 
sallying ardor of his imagination, his ultimate success has 



170 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

been admirably characterized as a "conquest of reflection." 
—Ibid. 

A VISIT TO PALOS. 

I can not express to you what were my feelings on 
treading the shore which had once been animated by the 
bustle of departure, and whose sands had been printed by 
the last footstep of Columbus. The solemn and sublime 
natureof the event that had followed, together with the fate 
and fortunes of those concerned in it, filled the mind with 
vague yet melancholy ideas. It was like viewing the silent 
and empty stage of some great drama when all the actors 
had departed. The very aspect of the landscape, so tran- 
quilly beautiful, had an effect upon me, and as I paced the 
deserted shore by the side of a descendant of one of the 
discoverers I felt my heart swelling with emotion and my 
eyes filling with tears. — Ibid. 

COLUMBUS AT SALAMANCA. 

Columbus appeared in a most unfavorable light before 
a select assembly — an obscure navigator, a member of no 
learned institution, destitute of all the trappings and cir- 
cumstances which sometimes give oracular authority to dull- 
ness, and depending on the mere force of natural genius. 

Some of the junta entertained the popular notion that he 
was an adventurer, or at best a visionary; and others had 
that morbid impatience which any innovation upon estab- 
lished doctrine is apt to produce in systematic minds. What 
a striking spectacle must the hall of the old convent have 
presented at this memorable conference! A simple mariner 
standing forth in the midst of an imposing array of pro- 
fessors, friars, and dignitaries of the Church, maintaining 
his theory with natural eloquence, and, as it were, pleading 
the cause of the New World. — Ibid. 



COLUMBUS. 171 

A MEMORIAL TO COLUMBUS AT OLD ISABELLA. 

From the Sacred Heart RevictV of Boston, Mass. 

Early in September, 1891, the proposition of erecting a 
monument to Columbus on the site of his first settlement 
in the New World, at Old Isabella, in Santo Domingo, was 
first broached to the Sacred Heart Review of Boston by Mr. 
Thomas H. Cummings of that city. As the first house built 
by Columbus in the settlement was a church, it was suggested 
that such a monument would indeed fitly commemorate the 
starting-point and rise of Christian civilization in America. 
The Review entered heartily into the project, and steps were 
at once taken to secure a suitable plot of ground for the 
site of the monument. Plans were also drawn of a monu- 
ment whose estimated cost would be from $3,000 to $5,000, 
A design which included a granite plinth and ball three 
feet in diameter, surmounting a pyramid of coral and 
limestone twenty feet high, was transmitted, through the 
Dominican consul-general at New York to the Dominican 
government in Santo Domingo. Accompanying this plan 
was a petition, of which the following is a copy, setting 
forth the purpose of the Review, and asking certain conces- 
sions in return: 

"Boston, Mass., October 7, 1891. 

" Hon. Fco. Leonte Vazques, Dominican Consul-general, 
'■'■New York City. 

" Sir: The Sacred Heart Review of Boston is anxious to 
mark the spot with a suitable monument where Christian 
civilization took its rise in the New World, commonly 
known as Ancienne Isabelle, on the Island of Santo 
Domingo. We therefore beg the favor of your good offices 
with the Dominican government for the following conces- 
sions: 

"■First. Free entrance of party and material for monu- 



172 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

ment at ports of Puerto Plata or Monte Christi, and right 
of transportation for same to Isabella free of all coast 
expense and duties. 

"■Second. Grant of suitable plot, not to contain more than 
looxioo square yards, the present owner, Mr. C. S. Passa- 
ilique of New York having already signified his willing- 
ness to concede same to us, so far as his rights under the 
Dominican government allowed him to do so. 

'* Third. The right of perpetual care of monument, with 
access to and permission to car6 for same at all times. 

" Fourth. Would the government grant official protection 
to same; i. e., allow its representatives to aid and protect 
in every reasonable way the success of the enterprise, and 
when built guard same as public property, without assuming 
any legal liability therefor? 

''Finally, in case that we find a vessel sailing to one of 
said ports above named willing to take the monument to 
Isabella, would government concede this favor — allowing 
vessel to make coast service free of governmental duties?" 

"In exchange for above concessions on the part of the 
Dominican government, the undersigned hereby agree lo 
erect, at their expense, and free of all charge to said gov- 
ernment, a granite monument, according to plan herewith 
inclosed; estimated cost to be from $3,000 to $5,000. 

" Awaiting the favor of an early reply, and begging you to 
accept the assurance of our highest respect and esteem, we 
have the honor to be, 

" Very respectfully yours, 

" Rev. John O'Brien and others in 
behalf of the Sacred Heart Review Monument Committee. " 

In reply to the above petition was received an official 
document, in Spanish, of which the following is a literal 
translation: 



COLUMBUS. 173 

" Ulises Heureaux, Division General-in-Chief of the Na- 
tional Army, Pacificator of the Nation, and Constitu- 
tional President of the Republic: 

" In view of the petition presented to the government by 
the directors of the Sacred Heart Review of Boston, 
United States of America, dated October 7, 1891, and con- 
sidering that the object of the petitioners is to commemo- 
rate a historical fact of great importance, viz.: the 
establishment of the Christian religion in the New World 
by the erection of its first temple — an event so closely 
identified with Santo Domingo, and by its nature and 
results eminently American, indeed world-wide, in its 
scope — therefore the point of departure for Christian civ- 
ilization in the western hemisphere, whose principal prod- 
ucts were apostles like Cordoba, Las Casas, and others, 
defending energetically and resolutely the rights of the 
oppressed inhabitants of America, and themselves the real 
founders of modern democracy, be it 

"■Resolved, Article i. That it is granted to the Sacred 
Heart Review of Boston, United States of America, per- 
mission to erect a monument on the site of the ruins of 
Old Isabella, in the district of Puerto Plata, whose purpose 
shall be to commemorate the site whereon was built the 
first Catholic church in the New World. This monument 
shall be of stone, and wholly conformable to the plan pre- 
sented. It shall be erected within a plot of ground that 
shall not exceed 10,000 square yards, and shall be at all 
times solidly and carefully inclosed. If the site chosen 
belongs to the state, said stale concedes its proprietary 
rights to the petitioners while the monument stands. If the 
site belongs to private individuals, an understanding must 
be reached with them to secure possession. 

"Article 2. The builders of said monument will have 
perpetual control and ownership, and they assume the obli- 



174 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

gation of caring for and preserving it in good condition. 
If the builders, as a society, cease to exist, the property 
will revert to the municipality to which belongs Old Isa- 
bella, and on them will revert the obligation to preserve it 
in perfect repair. 

"Article 3. The monument will be considered as public 
property, and the local authorities will give it the pro- 
tection which the law allows to property of that class. 
* * * But on no condition and in no way could the gov- 
ernment incur any responsibility of damage that might 
come to the monument situated in such a remote and 
exposed location. 

"Article 4. We declare free from municipal and coast 
duties the materials and tools necessary for the construc- 
tion of said monument, and if it is introduced in a ship 
carrying only this as a cargo, it will be permitted to said 
ship to make voyage from Monte Christi or Puerto Plata 
without paying any of said coast imposts. In view of these 
concessions the monmnent committee will present to the 
mayor of the city a detailed statement of the material and 
tools needed, so that this officer can accept or reject them as 
he sees fit. 

" Article 5. Wherefore the Secretary of State, Secretary 
of the Interior, and other officers of the Cabinet are 
charged with the execution of the present resolution. 

" Given at the National Palace of Santo Domingo, Capi- 
tal of the Republic, on the twenty-fifth day of November, 
1 89 1, forty-eighth year of independence and the twenty- 
ninth of the restoration. 

(Signed) " Ulises Heureaux, President. 

" W. FiGUEREO, 

" Minister of Interior and Police. 
" Ignacio M. Gonzales, 

" Minister of Finance and Commerce. 
" Sanchez, Minister of State. 



COLUMBUS. 175 

' Copy exactly conforming to the original given at Santo 
Domingo, November 28, 1891. 

" Rafael Y. Rodriguez, 
" Official Mayor and Minister of Public 

" Works and Foreign Affairs." 

With these concessions in hand, a committee, consisting 
of Capt. Nathan Appleton and Thomas H. Cummings, 
was appointed to go to Washington and secure recog- 
nition from the United States Government for the enter- 
prise. The committee was everywhere favorably received, 
and returned with assurances of co-operation and support. 
Hon. W. E. Curtis, head of the Bureau of Latin Republics 
in the State Department, was added to the general monu- 
ment committee. 

Meanwhile the Sacred Heart Review, through Dr. Charles 
H. Hall of Boston, a member of the monument committee, 
put itself in communication with the leading citizens of 
Puerto Plata, requesting them to use every effort to locate 
the exact site of the ancient church, and make a suitable 
clearing for the monument, at its expense. 

In answer to this communication, a committee of promi- 
nent citizens was organized at Puerto Plata, to co-operate 
with the Boston Columbus Memorial Committee. The fol- 
lowing extract is taken from a local paper. El Porvenir, 
announcing the organization of this committee: 

" On Saturday last, a meeting was held in this city (Puerto 
Plata) for the purpose of choosing a committee which 
should take part in the celebration. Those' present unani- 
mously resolved that such a body be immediately formed 
under the title of, ' Committee in Charge of the Centennial 
Celebration.' 

"This committee then proceeded to the election of a 
board of management, composed of a president, vice-pres- 
ident, secretary, and four directors. The following gentle- 



176 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

men were elected to fill the above offices in the order as 
named: Gen. Imbert, Dr. Llenas, Gen. Juan Guarrido, 
Presbitero Don Wenceslao Ruiz, Don Jose Thomas 
Jimenez, Don Pedro M. Villalon, and Don Jose Castellanos. 

" To further the object for which it was organized, the 
board counts upon the co-operation of such government 
officials and corporations of the republic as may be 
inclined to take part in this great apotheosis in prepa- 
ration, to glorify throughout the whole world the work 
and name of the famous discoverer. 

"As this is the disinterested purpose for which the above- 
mentioned committee was formed, we do not doubt that 
the public, convinced that it is its duty to contribute in a 
suitable manner to the proposed celebration, will respond 
to the idea with enthusiasm, seeing in it only the desire 
which has guided its projectors — that of contributing their 
share to the glorification of the immortal navigator." 

The following official communication was received from 
this committee: 

"Puerto de Plata, March 19, 1892. 

"Dr. Charles H. Hall, Member Boston Columbus Memorial 
Committee, Boston, Mass., U. S. A. 

" Dear Sir: We have the honor of acquainting you that 
there exists in this city a committee for the celebration of 
the quadro-centennial whose purpose is to co-operate, to 
the extent of its ability, in celebrating here the memorable 
event. 

"This committee has learned with the greatest satisfac- 
tion that it is proposed to erect a monument, on the site of 
Isabella, over the ruins of the first Catholic church in the 
New World. Here, also, we have had the same idea, and 
we rejoice that what we were unable to accomplish through 
lack of material means, you have brought to a consum- 



COLUMBUS. 177 

mation. And therefore we offer you our co-operation, 
and beg your acceptance of our services in any direction 
in which you may find then:a useful. With sentiments of 
high regard, we remain, 

"Your very obedient servants, 

" S. Imbert, President. 

" Juan Guarrido, Secretary. 

" Direction, Gen. Imbert, President de la " Junta Para 
de la Celebracioti del Centenario.'" 

The statue consists of a bronze figure of Columbus 
eight feet two inches high, including the plinth, mounted 
on a pyramid of coral and limestone twelve feet high, and 
which, in its turn, is crowned by a capstone of dressed 
granite, on which the statue will rest. The figure repre- 
sents Columbus in an attitude of thanksgiving to God, and 
pointing, on the globe near his right hand, to the site of 
the first settlement in the New World. The statue and 
pedestal were made from designs drawn at the Massachu- 
setts State Normal Art School by Mr. R. Andrew, under 
the direction of Prof. George Jepson, and the statue was 
modeled by Alois Buyens of Ghent. 

The plaster cast of the monument, which has now been on 
exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts at Boston for some 
time, has been removed to the foundry at Chicopee for 
casting. In a few months it will be transformed into endur- 
ing bronze, and the Columbus monument will no longer be 
a growing thought but a living reality. To say it has 
stood the critical test of art connoisseurs in the Boston 
public is to say but little; for, from every quarter, com- 
ments on the work of the sculptor have been highly com- 
mendatory — the bold and vigorous treatment of the 
Flemish school, of which Mr. Buyens is a disciple, being 
something of a novelty in these parts, and well calculated 
to strike the popular fancy, which always admires strength, 
12 



178 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

especially when combined with gracefulness and high art. 
Not a few of the best critics have pronounced it superior 
to the average of similar statues to be found in and around 
Boston, and all unite in declaring it to be unquestionably 
a work of art, and one meriting great praise. 

A recent communication from United States Consul 
Simpson, at Puerto Plata, announces that he has lately vis- 
ited Isabella, in the interest of the monument. He made 
a careful survey of the site of the ancient town, and cleared 
the grounds of the trees and masses of trailing vines that 
encumbered the ruins, and after a thorough examination, 
assisted by the people of the neighborhood, he found the 
remains of the first church. 

Other communications have been received from the 
Dominican government approving of the change of plan, 
substituting the statue for the simple stone monument, and 
offering the memorial committee the hospitalities of the 
island. And so the work goes on. 

The monument, when erected, will commemorate two 
things — the establishment of Christianity and the rise of 
civilization in the New World. On the spot where it will 
-Stand Columbus built the first church 400 years ago. 

One bronze relief shows the great discoverer in the fore- 
ground on bended knees with a trowel in his hand, laying 
the corner-stone. On the right, sits an ideal female figure, 
representing Mother Church, fostering a little Indian child, 
and pointing with uplifted hand to the cross, the emblem 
of man's salvation. Crouching Indians are at her feet, 
listening with astonishment to the strange story, while on 
the left of the cross are monks with bowed heads and 
lighted tapers, and in the distance are Spanish cavaliers 
and hidalgos. 

The conception is thoroughly Catholic, Christian, simple, 
and artistic; it tells its own story with a pathos and direct- 
ness not often found in works of this kind. 



COLUMBUS. 179 

The second tablet is more ideal and more severely clas- 
sical than the first. The genius of civilization, bearing 
gifts, is carried in a chariot drawn by prancing horses. 
The Admiral, at the horses' heads, with one hand points 
the way for her to follow, while with the other he hands 
the reins to Columbia, the impersonation of the New World. 
An Indian at the chariot wheels stoops to gather the gifts 
of civilization as they fall from the cornucopia borne by the 
goddess. And thus is told in enduring bronze, by the 
genius of the artist, the symbolic story of the introduction 
of civilization to the New World. 

Upon the face of the" pedestal, a third tablet bears the 
inscription which was written at the instance of Very Rev. 
Dr. Charles B. Rex, president of the Brighton Theological 
Seminary. Mgr. Schroeder, the author, interprets the 
meaning of the whole, in terse rhythmical Latin sentences, 
after the Roman lapidary style: 

Anno, claudente. sceculum XV. 

Ex. quo. coloni. Christiani, Columbo. Ducc 

Hie. post, oppidum, constituiiim 

Prwium. in. mundo. novo, tempi um 

Christo. Deo, dicarunt 

Ephefueris. Bostoniettsis 

Cui. a. sacra, corde. est. notnen 

Sub. auspice, civium, Bostonice 

Ne. rei. tantcc. memoria. unquam. delabatur 

Hccc. mannori, commendavit. 

A. D. MDCCCLXXXXII. 

( Translation of the Insa-iption. ) 

Toward the close of the fifteenth century, 

Christian colonists, under the leadership of Columbus, 

Here on this spot built the first settlement. 

And the first church dedicated 

To Christ our Lord 



180 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

In the new world. 
A Boston paper, called the Sacred Heart Review, 
Under the auspices of the citizens of Boston, 
That the memory of so great an event might not be for- 
gotten, 
Hath erected this monument, 
A. D. 1892. 

The question is sometimes asked why are Catholics spec- 
ially interested, and why should the Review trouble itself to 
erect this monument. The answer is this: We wish to 
locate the spot with some distinctive mark where civiliza- 
tion was first planted and where Christianity reared its first 
altar on this soil, 400 years ago. By this public act of 
commemoration we hope to direct public attention to this 
modest birthplace of our Mother Church, which stands 
to-day deserted and unhonored like a pauper's grave, a 
monument of shame to the carelessness and indifference 
of millions of American Catholics. 

Why should we be specially interested? Because here 
on this spot the Catholic church first saw the light of day 
in America; here the first important act of the white man 
was the celebration of the holy mass, the supreme act of 
Catholic worship; here the first instrument of civilization 
that pierced the virgin soil was a cross, and here the first 
Catholic anthems resounding through the forest primeval, 
and vying in sweetness and melody with the song of birds, 
were the Te Dciim Laudamus and the Gloria in Excelsis. 
Sculptured marble and engraved stone we have in abun- 
dance, and tablets without number bear record to deeds and 
historical events of far less importance than this. For, 
mark well what these ruins and this monument stand for. 

One hundred and twenty-six years before the Congrega- 
tionalist church landed on Plymouth Rock, no years before 
the Anglican church came to Jamestown, and thirty-five 



COLUMBUS. 181 

years before the word Protestant was invented, this church 
was erected, and the gospel announced to the New World 
by zealous missionaries of the Catholic faith. No other 
denomination of Christians in America can claim priority 
or even equal duration with us in point of time. No other 
can show through all the centuries of history such generous 
self-sacrifice and heroic missionary efforts. No other has 
endured such misrepresentation and bitter persecution for 
justice's sake. If her history here is a valuable heritage, 
we to whom it has descended are in duty bound to keep it 
alive in the memory and hearts of her children. We have 
recently celebrated the centennial of the Church in the 
United States; but, for a still greater reason, we should 
now prepare to celebrate the quadro-centennial of the 
Church in America. And this is why Catholics should be 
specially interested in' this monument. Columbus himself 
was a deeply religious man. He observed rigorously the 
fasts and ceremonies of the Church, reciting daily the entire 
canonical office. He began everything he wrote with the 
Jesu cum Maria sit nobis in via (May Jesus and Mary be 
always with us). And as Irving, his biographer, says, his 
piety did not consist in mere forms, but partook of that 
lofty and solemn enthusiasm which characterized his whole 
life. In his letter to his sovereigns announcing his discov- 
ery he indulges in no egotism, but simply asks " Spain to 
exhibit a holy joy, for Christ rejoices on earth as in heaven 
seeing the future redemption of souls." And so his relig- 
ion bursts out and seems to pervade everything he touches. 
With such a man to commemorate and honor, there is 
special reason why Catholics, and the Revieiu, which repre- 
sents them, should busy themselves with erecting a Colum- 
bus monument. 

But the name and fame and beneficent work of Columbus 
belong to the whole Christian world. While Catholics with 



182 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

gratitude recall his fortitude and heroism, and thank God, 
who inspired him with a firm faith and a burning charity 
for God and man, yet Protestants no less than Catholics 
share in the fruit of his work, and, we are glad to say, vie 
with Catholics in proclaiming and honoring his exalted 
character, his courage, fortitude, and the beneficent work he 
accomplished for mankind. Hence Dr. Edward Everett 
Hale, in his recent article on Columbus in the Independent, 
voices the sentiment of every thoughtful, intelligent Prot- 
estant when he says, " No wonder that the world of 
America loves and honors the hero whose faith and cour- 
age called America into being. No wonder that she cele- 
brates the beginning of a new century with such tributes of 
pride and hope as the world has never seen before." It is 
this same becoming sentiment of gratitude which has 
prompted so many worthy Protestants to enroll their names 
on the list of gentlemen who are helping the Review to 
mark and honor the spot Columbus chose for the first 
Christian settlement on this continent. 

Thus, so long as the bronze endures, the world will know 
that we venerate the character and achievements of Colum- 
bus, and the spot where Christian civilization took its rise 
in the New World. 



FROM THE ITALIAN. 

The daring mariner shall urge far o'er 

The western wave, a smooth and level plain, 

Albeit the earth is fashioned like a wheel. 



SEARCHER OF THE OCEAN. 

Samuel Jefferson, a British author. From his epic poem, "Columbus, 
published by S. C. Griggs & Co., Chicago. 

Thou searcher of the ocean, thee to sing 
Shall my devoted lyre awake each string! 
Columbus! Hero! Would my song could tell 



COLUMBUS. 183 

How great thy worth! No praise can overswell 
The grandeur of thy deeds! Thine eagle eye 
Pierced through the clouds of ages to descry 
From empyrean heights where thou didst soar 
With bright imagination winged by lore — 
The signs of continents as yet unknown; 
Across the deep thy keen-eyed glance was thrown; 
Thou, with prevailing longing, still aspired 
To reach the goal thy ardent soul desired; 
Thy heavenward soaring spirit, bold, elate, 
Scorned long delay and conquered chance and fate; 
Thy valor followed thy far-searching eyes, 
Until success crowned thy bold enterprise. 



FELIPA, WIFE OF COLUMBUS. 

Annie Fellows Johnston. From a poem published in Harper s 
Weekly, June 25, 1892. 

More than the compass to the mariner 

Wast thou, Felipa, to his dauntless soul. 

Through adverse winds that threatened wreck, and 

nights 
Of rayless gloom, thou pointed ever to 
The north star of his great ambition. He 
Who once has lost an Eden, or has gained 
A paradise by Eve's sweet influence, 
Alone can know how strong a spell lies in 
The witchery of a woman's beckoning hand. 
And thou didst draw him, tidelike, higher still, 
Felipa, whispering the lessons learned 
From thy courageous father, till the flood 
Of his ambition burst all barriers. 
And swept him onward to his longed-for goal. 

Before the jewels of a Spanish queen 
Built fleets to waft him on his untried way, 



184 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

Thou gavest thy wealth of wifely sympathy 

To build the lofty purpose of his soul. 

And now the centuries have cycled by, 

Till thou art all forgotten by the throng 

That lauds the great Pathfinder of the deep. 

It matters not, in that infinitude 

Of space where thou dost guide thy spirit bark 

To undiscovered lands, supremely fair. 

If to this little planet thou couldst turn 

And voyage, wraithlike, to its cloud-hung rim. 

Thou wouldst not care for praise. And if, perchance, 

Some hand held out to thee a laurel bough, 

Thou wouldst not claim one leaf, but fondly turn 

To lay thy tribute also at his feet. 



INCREASING INTEREST IN COLUMBUS. 
John S. Kennedy, an American author. 
The near approach of the 400th anniversary of the dis- 
covery of America has revived in all parts of the civilized 
world great interest in everything concerning that memor- 
able event and the perilous voyage of the great navigator 
whom it has immortalized. 



THE MECCA OF THE NATION. 
Moses King, an American geographer of the nineteenth century. 
I have read somewhere that in the northeastern part of 
Havana stands, facing an open square, a brown stone 
church, blackened by age, and dignified by the name of 
"cathedral." It is visited by every American, because 
within its walls lies buried all that remains of the great 
discoverer, Columbus. 

THE CAUSE OF THE DISCOVERY. 

Was it by the coarse law of demand and supply that a 



COLUMBUS. 185 

Columbus was haunted by the ghost of a round planet at 
the time when the New World was needed for the interests 
of civilization? — IbiJ. 



MAGNANIMITY. 
Arthur G. Knight, in his "Life of Columbus." 
Through all the slow martyrdom of long delays and 
bitter disappointments, he never faltered in his lofty pur- 
pose; in the hour of triumph he was self-possessed and 
unassuming; under cruel persecution he was patient and 
forgiving. For almost unexampled services he certainly 
received a poor reward on earth. 



THE IDEAS OF THE ANCIENTS. 

Lucius Lactantius, an eminent Christian author, 260-325 A. D. 

Is there any one so foolish as to believe that there are 
antipodes with their feet opposite to ours; that there is a 
part of the world in which all things are topsy-turvy, where 
the trees grow with their branches downward, and where it 
rains, hails, and snows upward? 



THE LAKE FRONT PARK STATUE OF COLUMBUS. 

The World's Fair city is a close competitor with the his- 
toric cities of the Old World for the grandest monument to 
Columbus and the fittest location for it. At Barcelona, on 
the Paseo Colon, seaward, a snowy marble Admiral looks 
toward the Shadowy Sea. At Genoa, 'mid the palms of the 
Piazza Acquaverde, a noble representation of the noblest 
Genoese faces the fitful gusts of the Mediterranean and 
fondly guards an Indian maid. A lofty but rude cairn 
marks the Admiral's first footprints on the shores of the 
wreck-strewn Bahamas, and many a monument or encomi- 
astic inscription denotes spots sacred to the history of his 
indomitable resolve. These all commemorate, as it were, 



186 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

but the inception of the great discovery. It remains for 
Chicago to perpetuate the results, and most fitly to place 
an heroic figure of the first Admiral viewing, and in full 
view of all. 

On the Lake Front Park, in full view of the ceaseless 
commercial activity of the Great Lakes, and close by the 
hum of the hive of human industry, grandly will a bronze 
Columbus face the blasts from Michigan's bosom. There 
the greatest navigator stands, 

Calm, his prescience verified, 
proudly through the ages watching the full fruits of that 
first and fateful voyage over the waves of the seas of 
mystery, to found a nation where Freedom alone should be 
supreme. Just where the big monument will be located on 
Lake Front Park has not been decided, but a site south of 
the Auditorium, midway between the Illinois Central tracks 
and Michigan Boulevard, will perhaps be chosen. The 
statue proper will be twenty feet high. It will be of 
bronze, mounted on a massive granite pedestal, of thirty ^ 
feet in height, and will serve for all time as a mem(M-ial of 
the Exposition. 

The chosen artist, out of the many who submitted 
designs, was Mr. Howard Kretschmar, a Chicago sculptor 
of rare power and artistic talent. 

The massive figure of Columbus is represented at the 
moment the land, and the glorious future of his great discov- 
ery, burst upon his delighted gaze. No ascetic monk, no 
curled cavalier, looks down from the pedestal. The apoc- 
ryphal portraits of Europe may peer out of their frames 
in this guise, but it has been the artist's aim here to chisel 
a man, not a monkj and a noble man, rather than a cringing 
courtier. Above the massive pedestal of simple design, 
which bears the terse legend, " Erected by the World's 
Columbian Exposition, A. D. 1893," stands the noble 



COLUMBUS. 187 

figure of the Noah of our nation. The open doublet dis- 
closes the massive proportions of a more than well-knit 
man. The left hand, pressed to the bosom, indicates the 
tension of his feelings, and the outstretched hand but fur- 
ther intensifies the dawning and gradually o'erwhelming 
sense of the future, the possibilities of his grand discovery. 
One of the noblest conceptions in bronze upon this con- 
tinent is Mr. Howard Kretschmar's " Columbus," and of it 
may Chicago well be proud. 



COLUMBUS THE CIVILIZER. 

Alphonse Lamartine, the learned French writer and politician. Born 
at Macon, 1792; died, 1869. From " Life of Columbus."' 

All the characteristics of a truly great man are united in 
Columbus. Genius, labor, patience, obscurity of origin, 
overcome by energy of will; mild but persisting firmness, 
resignation toward heaven, struggle against the world; long 
conception of the idea in solitude, heroic execution of it in 
action; intrepidity and coolness in storms, fearlessness 
of death in civil strife; confidence in the destiny — not 
of an individual, but of the human race; a life risked 
without hesitation or retrospect in venturing into the 
unknown and phantom-peopled ocean, 1,500 leagues 
across, and on which the first step no more allowed of 
second thoughts than Caesar's passage of the Rubicon; 
untiring study, knowledge as extensive as the science of 
his day, skillful but honorable management of courts to 
persuade them to truth; propriety of demeanor, nobleness, 
and dignity in outward bearing, which afford proof of 
greatness of mind and attracts eyes and hearts; language 
adapted to the grandeur of his thoughts; eloquence which 
could convince kings and quell the mutiny of crews; a 
natural poetry of style, which placed his narrative on a par 



188 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

with the wonders of his discoveries and the marvels of 
nature; an immense, ardent, and enduring love for the 
human race, piercing even into that distant future in which 
humanity forgets those that do it service; legislative wis- 
dom and philosophic mildness in the government of his 
colonies; paternal compassion for those Indians, infants of 
humanity, whom he wished to give over to the guardian- 
ship — not to the tyranny and oppression — of the Old 
World; forgetfulness of injury and magnanimous forgive- 
ness of his enemies; and lastly, piety, that virtue which 
includes and exalts all other virtues, when it exists as it 
did in the mind of Columbus — the constant presence of 
God in the soul, of justice in the conscience, of mercy in 
the heart, of gratitude in success, of resignation in reverses, 
of worship always and everywhere. 

Such was the man. We know of none more perfect. He 
contains several impersonations within himself. He was 
worthy to represent the ancient world before that unknown 
continent on which he was the first to set foot, and carry 
to these men of a new race all the virtues, without any of 
the vices, of the elder hemisphere. So great was his 
influence on the destiny of the earth, tha-t none more than 
he ever deserved the name of a Civilizer. 

His influence in civilization was immeasurable. He 
completed the world. He realized the physical unity of 
the globe. He advanced, far beyond all that had been 
done before his time, the work of God — the spiritual 
UNITY OF THE HUMAN RACE. This work, in which Colum- 
bus had so largely assisted, was indeed too great to be 
worthily rewarded even by affixing his name to the fourth 
continent. America bears not that name, but the human 
race, drawn together and cemented by him, will spread his 
renown over the whole earth. 



COLUMBUS. 189 

THE PSALM OF THE WEST. 

Sidney Lanier, an American poet of considerable talent. Born at 
Macon, Ga., February 3, 1842; died at Lynn, N. C, September 
8, 1881. From his " Psalm of the West." Lanier was the 
author of the " Centennial Ode." 

Santa Maria, well thou tremblest down the wave, 
Thy Pinta far abow, thy Nina nigh astern; 

Columbus stands in the night alone, and, passing grave, 
Yearns o'er the sea as tones o'er under-silence yearn. 

Heartens his heart as friend befriends his friend less brave, 
Makes burn the faiths that cool, and cools the doubts 
that burn. 

*' 'Twixt this and dawn, three hours my soul will smite 
With prickly seconds, or less tolerably 
With dull-blade minutes flatwise slapping me. 

Wait, heart! Time moves. Thou lithe young Western 
Night, 

Just-crowned King, slow riding to thy right, 
Would God that I might straddle mutiny 
Calm as thou sitt'st yon never-managed sea, 

Balk'st with his balking, fliest with his flight, 

Giv'st supple to his rearings and his falls. 

Nor dropp'st one coronal star about thy brow, 
Whilst ever dayward thou art steadfast drawn 

Yea, would I rode these mad contentious brawls. 
No damage taking from their If and How, 
Nor no result save galloping to my Dawn. 

" My Dawn? my Dawn? How if it never break? 

How if this West by other Wests is pierced. 

And these by vacant Wests and Wests increased- 
One pain of space, with hollow ache on ache, 
Throbbing and ceasing not for Christ's own sake? 

Big, perilous theorem, hard for king and priest; 



190 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA 

' Pursue the West but long enough, 'tis East! ' 
Oh, if this watery world no turning take; 
Oh, if for all my logic, all my dreams, 
Provings of that which is by that which seems, 
Fears, hopes, chills, heats, hastes, patiences, droughts, tears, 
Wife-grievings, slights on love, embezzled years, 
Hates, treaties, scorns, upliftings, loss, and gain, 
This earth, no sphere, be all one sickening plain. 

" Or, haply, how if this contrarious West, 

That me by turns hath starved, by turns hath fed, 
Embraced, disgraced, beat back, solicited, 

Have no fixed heart of law within his breast; 

Or with some different rhythm doth e'er contest, 
Nature in the East? Why, 'tis but three weeks fled 
I saw my Judas needle shake his head 

And flout the Pole that, East, he lord confessed! 

God! if this West should own some other Pole, 

And with his tangled ways perplex my soul 
Until the maze grow mortal, and I die 

Where distraught Nature clean hath gone astray, 

On earth some other wit than Time's at play, 
Some other God than mine above the sky! 

" Now speaks mine other heart with cheerier seeming; 
'Ho, Admiral! o'er-defalking to thine crew 
Against thyself, thyself far overfew 

To front yon multitudes of rebel scheming? ' 

Come, ye wild twenty years of heavenly dreaming! 
Come, ye wild weeks, since first this canvas drew 
Out of vexed Palos ere the dawn was blue, 

O'er milky waves about the bows full-creaming! 

Come, set me round with many faithful spears 
Of confident remembrance — how I crushed 
Cat-lived rebellions, pitfalled treasons, hushed 



COLUMBUS. 191 

Scared husbands' heart-break cries on distant wives, 
Made cowards blush at whining for their lives; 
Watered my parching souls and dried their tears. 

" Ere we Gomera cleared, a coward cried: 

'Turn, turn; here be three caravels ahead, 

From Portugal, to take us; we are dead! ' 
'Hold westward, pilot,' calmly I replied. 
So when the last land down the horizon died, 

'Go back, go back,' they prayed, 'our hearts are lead.' 

' Friends, we are bound into the West,' I said. 
Then passed the wreck of a mast upon our side. 
'See (so they wept) God's warning! Admiral, turn!' 

'Steersman,' I said, 'hold straight into the West.' 
Then down the night we saw the meteor burn. 

So do the very heavens in fire protest. 
' Good Admiral, put about! O Spain, dear Spain! ' 
' Hold straight into the West,' I said again. 

" Next drive we o'er the slimy-weeded sea, 

'Lo! here beneath,' another coward cries, 

' The cursed land of sunk Atlantis lies; 
This slime will suck us down — turn while thou'rt free! ' 
' But no! ' I said, ' freedom bears West for me! ' 

Yet when the long-time stagnant winds arise. 

And day by day the keel to westward flies, 
My Good my people's 111 doth come to be; 

Ever the winds into the west do blow; 

Never a ship, once turned, might homeward go; 
Meanwhile we speed into the lonesome main. 

'For Christ's sake, parley. Admiral! Turn, before 
We sail outside all bounds of help from pain.' 

' Our help is in the West,' I said once more. 

"So when there came a mighty cry of Land! 
And we clomb up and saw, and shouted strong 



193 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

'Salve Rei(iiia!' all the ropes along, 

But knew at morn how that a counterfeit band 

Of level clouds had aped a silver strand; 

So when we heard the orchard-bird's small song, 

And all the people cried, 'A hellish throng 

To tempt us onward, by the Devil planned. 

Yea, all from hell — keen heron, fresh green weeds. 

Pelican, tunny-fish, fair tapering reeds. 

Lie-telling lands that ever shine and die 

In clouds of nothing round the empty sky. 

'Tired Admiral, get thee from this hell, and rest! ' 

'Steersman,' I said, ' hold straight into the West.' 
******** 

" 1 marvel how mine eye, ranging the Night, 

From its big circling ever absently 

Returns, thou large, low star, to fix on thee. 
Maria! Star? No star; a Light, a Light! 
Wouldst leap ashore. Heart? Yonder burns a Light! 

'Pedro Ciutierrez, wake! come up to me. 

I prithee stand and gaze about the sea; 
What seest?' * Admiral, like as land — a Light! ' 
'Well, Sanchez of Segovia come and try; 
What seest? ' ' Admiral, naught but sea and sky! ' 
'Well, but 1 saw it. Wait, the Pinta's gun! 
Why, look! 'tis dawn! the land is clear; 'tis done! 
Two dawns do break at once from Time's full hand — 
God's East — mine. West ! Good friends, behold my Land ! 



PASSION FOR GOLD. 

Eugene Lawrence, an American historical writer. Born in New Vorl<, 
1823. From " The Mystery of Columbus," in Harper s Ala^azine, 
May, 1892. 

In Columbus the passion for gold raged with a violence 
seldom known. He dreamed of golden palaces, heaps of 




STATUE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS IN THE MARINOL ( MINISTRY OF THE 

COLONIES), MADRID, SPAIN 

Sculptor, Senor J. Samarfm. 



COLUMBUS. 193 

treasure, and mines teeming witli endless wealth. His cry 
was everywhere for gold. Every moment, in his fierce 
avarice, he would fancy himself on the brink of boundless 
opulence; he was always about to seize the treasures of the 
East, painted by Marco Polo and Mandeville. "Gold," he 
wrote to the King and Queen, " is the most valuable thing 
in the world; it rescues souls from purgatory and restores 
them to the joys of paradise." 



THE TRIBUTE AND TESTIMONY OF THE POPE. 

Pope Leo XIII., the Supreme Pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church. 
From a letter in Chicago Inter Ocean, 1892. 

While we see on all sides the preparations that are 
eagerly being made for the celebration of the Columbian 
quadri-centenary feasts in memory of a man most illustrious, 
and deserving of Christianity and all cultured humanity, 
we hear with great pleasure that the United States has, 
among other nations, entered this competition of praise in 
such a manner as befits both the vastness and richness of 
the country and the memory of the man so great as he to 
whom these honors are being shown. The success of this 
effort will surely be another proof of the great spirit and 
active energy of this people, who undertake enormous and 
difficult tasks with such great and happy dealing. It is a 
testimony of honor and gratitude to that immortal man of 
whom we have spoken, who, desirous of finding a road by 
which the light and truth and all the adornments of civil 
culture might be carried to the most distant parts of the 
world, could neither be deterred by dangers nor wearied 
by labors, until, having in a certain manner renewed the 
bonds between two parts of the human race so long sepa- 
rated, he bestowed upon both such great benefits that he 
in justice must be said to have few equals or a superior. 
13 



194 COLUMBUS AND "COLUMBIA. 

COLUMBUS THE GLORY OF CATHOLICISM. 

The Pope held a reception at the Vatican on the occa- 
sion of the festival of his patron saint, St. Joachim. In 
an address he referred to Columbus as the glory of Cathol- 
icism, and thanked the donors of the new Church of St. 
Joachim for commemorating his jubilee. 



THE POPE REVIEWS THE LIFE OF THE DISCOVERER. 

The following is the text of the letter addressed by Leo XIII. to the 
archbishops and bishops of Spain, Italy, and the two Americas 
on the subject of Christopher Columbus. 

LETTER OF OUR VERY HOLY FATHER, LEO XIII., POPE BY 
DIVINE PROVIDENCE, TO THE ARCHBISHOPS AND BISH- 
OPS OF SPAIN, ITALY, AND OF THE TWO AMERICAS, UPON 
CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 

To the Archbishops and Bishops of Spain and Italy, and of 
the two Americas. Leo XIII., Pope. 

Venerable Brothers, Greeting and Apostolic Ben- 
ediction: From the end of the fifteenth century, since a 
man from Liguria first landed, under the auspices of God, 
on the transatlantic shores, humanity has been strongly 
inclined to celebrate with gratitude the recollection of this 
event. It would certainly not be an easy matter to find a 
more worthy cause to touch their hearts and to inflame 
their zeal. The event, in effect, is such in itself that no 
other epoch has seen a grander and more beautiful one 
accomplished by man. 

As to who accomplished it, there are few who can be 
compared to him in greatness of soul and genius. By his 
work a new world flashed forth from the unexplored ocean, 
thousands upon thousands of mortals were returned to the 
common society of the human race, led from their barbar- 
ous life to peacefulness and civilization, and, which is of 



COLUMBUS. 195 

much more importance, recalled from perdition to eternal 
life by the bestowal of the gifts which Jesus Christ brought 
to the world. 

Europe, astonished alike by the novelty and the prodigious- 
ness of this unexpected event, understood little by little, in 
due course of time, what she owed to Columbus, when, by 
sending colonies to America, by frequent communications, 
by exchange of services, by the resources confided to the 
sea and received in return, there was discovered an acces- 
sion of the most favorable nature possible to the knowl- 
edge of nature, to the reciprocal abundance of riches, with 
the result that the prestige of Europe increased enor- 
mously. 

Therefore, it would not be fitting, amid these numerous 
testimonials on honor, and in these concerts of felicitations, 
that the Church should maintain complete silence, since, in 
accordance with her character and her institution, she will- 
ingly approves and endeavors to favor all that appears, 
wherever it is, to be worthy of honor and praise. Undoubt- 
edly she receives particular and supreme honors to the 
virtues pre-eminent in regard to morality, inasmuch as they 
are united to the eternal salvation of souls; nevertheless, 
she does not despise the rest, neither does she abstain from 
esteeming them as they deserve; it is even her habit to 
favor with all her power and to always have in honor those 
who have well merited of human society and who have 
passed to posterity. 

Certainly, God is admirable in His saints, but the ves- 
tiges of His divine virtues appear as imprinted in those in 
whom shines a superior force of soul and mind, for this 
elevation of heart and this spark of genius could only come 
from God, their author and protector. 

It is in addition an entirely special reason for which we 
believe we should commemorate in a grateful spirit tliis 



196 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

immortal event. It is that Columbus is one of us. When 
one considers with what motive above all he undertook the 
plan of exploring the dark sea, and with what object he 
endeavored to realize this plan, one can not doubt that 
the Catholic faith superlatively inspired the enterprise and 
its execution, so that by this title, also, humanity is not a 
little indebted to the Church. 

There are without doubt many men of hardihood and 
full of experience who, before Christopher Columbus and 
after him, explored with persevering efforts unknown lands 
across seas still more unknown. Their memory is cele- 
brated, and will be so by the renown and the recollection 
of their good deeds, seeing that they have extended the 
frontiers of science and of civilization, and that not at the 
price of slight efforts, but with an exalted ardor of spirit, 
and often through extreme perils. It is not the less true 
that there is a great difference between them and him of 
whom we speak. 

The eminently distinctive point in Columbus is, that in 
crossing the immense expanses of the ocean he followed 
an object more grand and more elevated than the others. 
This does not say, doubtless, that he was not in any way 
influenced by the very praiseworthy desire to be master of 
science, to well deserve the approval of society, or that he 
despised the glory whose stimulant is ordinarily more sensi- 
tive to elevated minds, or that he was not at all looking to 
his own personal interests. But above all these human 
reasons, that of religion was uppermost by a great deal in 
him, and it was this, without any doubt, which sustained 
his spirit and his will, and which frequently, in the midst of 
extreme difficulties, filled him with consolation. He 
learned in reality that his plan, his resolution profoundly 
carved in his heart, was to open access to the gospel in 
new lands and in new seas. 



COLUMBUS. 197 

This may seem hardly probable to those who, concen- 
trating all their care, all their thoughts, in the present nature 
of things, as it is perceived by the senses, refuse to look 
upon greater benefits. But, on the other hand, it is the 
characteristic of eminent minds to prefer to elevate them- 
selves higher, for they are better disposed than all others 
to seize the impulses and the inspirations of the divine 
faith. Certainly, Columbus had united the study of nature 
to the study of religion, and he had conformed his mind to 
the precepts intimately drawn from the Catholic faith. 

It is thus that, having learned by astronomy and 
ancient documents that beyond the limits of the known 
world there were, in addition, toward the west, large tracts 
of territory unexplored up to that time by anybody, he con- 
sidered in his mind the immense multitude of those who 
were plunged in lamentable darkness, subject to insensate 
rites and to the superstitions of senseless divinities. He 
considered that they miserably led a savage life, with fero- 
cious customs; that, more miserably still, they were wanting 
in all notion of the most important things, and that they 
were plunged in ignorance of the only true God. 

Thus, in considering this in himself, he aimed first of 
all to propagate the name of Christianity and the benefits 
of Christian charity in the West. As a fact, as soon as he 
presented himself to the sovereigns of Spain, Ferdinand 
and Isabella, he explained the cause for which they were 
not to fear taking a warm interest in the enterprise, as 
their glory would increase to the point of becoming immor- 
tal if they decided to carry the name and the doctrine of 
Jesus Christ into such distant regions. And when, not 
long afterward, his prayers were granted, he called to wit- 
ness that he wished to obtain from God that these sover- 
eigns, sustained by His help and His mercy, should perse- 
vere in causing the gospel to penetrate upon new shores 
and in new lands. 



198 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

He conceived in the same mimner the plan of asking 
Alexander VI. for apostolic men, by a letter in which these 
words are found: "I hope that it will some day be given 
to me with the help of God to propagate afar the very holy 
name of Jesus Christ and his gospel." Also can one 
imagine him all filled with joy when he wrote to Raphael 
Sanchez, the first who from the Indies had returned to Lis- 
bon, that immortal actions of grace must be rendered to 
God in that he had deigned to cause to prosper the enter- 
prise so well, and that Jesus Christ could rejoice and 
triumph upon earth and in heaven for the coming salvation 
of innumerable people who previously had been going to 
their ruin. That, if Columbus also asks of Ferdinand and 
Isabella to permit only Catholic Christians to go to the 
New World, there to accelerate trade with the natives, he 
supports this motive by the fact that by his enterprise and 
efforts he has not sought for anything else than the glory 
and the development of the Christian religion. 

This was what was perfectly known to Isabella, who, 
better than any other person, had penetrated the mind of 
such a great man; much more, it appears that this same 
plan was fully adopted by this very pious woman of great 
heart and manly mind. She bore witness, in effect, of 
Columbus, that in courageously giving himself up to the 
vast ocean, he realized, for the divine glory, a most signal 
enterprise; and to Columbus himself, when he had happily 
returned, she wrote that she esteemed as having been highly 
employed the resources which she had consecrated and 
which she would still consecrate to the expeditions in the 
Indies, in view of the fact that the propagation of Catholi- 
cism would result from them. 

Also, if he had not inspired himself from a cause supe- 
rior to human interests, where then would he have drawn 
the constancy and the strength of soul to support what he 



COLUMBUS. 199 

was obliged to the end to endure and to submit to; that is 
to say, the unpropitious advice of the learned people, the 
repulses of princes, the tempests of the furious ocean, the 
continual watches, during which he more than once risked 
losing his sight. 

To that add the combats sustained against the barba- 
rians; the infidelities of his friends, of his companions; the 
villainous conspiracies, the perfidiousness of the envious, 
the calumnies of the traducers, the chains with which, after 
all, though innocent, he was loaded. It was inevitable that 
a man overwhelmed with a burden of trials so great and so 
intense would have succumbed had he not sustained him- 
self by the consciousness of fulfilling a very noble enter- 
prise, which he conjectured would be glorious for the Chris- 
tian name and salutary for an infinite multitude. 

And the enterprise so carried out is admirably illus- 
trated by the events of that time. In effect, Columbus dis- 
covered America at about the period when a great tempest 
was going to unchain itself against the Church. Inasmuch 
as it is permitted by the course of events to appreciate the 
ways of divine Providence, it really seems that the man for 
whom the Liguria honors herself was destined by special 
plan of God to compensate Catholicism for the injury 
which it was going to suffer in Europe. 

To call the Indian race to Christianity, this was, with- 
out doubt, the mission and the work of the Church in this 
mission. From the beginning, she continued to fulfill it 
with an uninterrupted course of charity, and she still con- 
tinues it, having advanced herself recently so far as the 
extremities of Patagonia. 

Thus, when compelled by the Portuguese, by the Gen- 
oese, to leave without having obtained any result, he went 
to Spain. He matured the grand plan of the projected dis- 
covery in the midst of the walls of a convent, with the 



200 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

knowledge of and with the advice of a monk of the Order 
of St. Francis d'Assisi, after seven years had revolved. 
When at last he goes to dare the ocean, he takes care that 
the expedition shall comply with the acts of spiritual expia- 
tion; he prays to the Queen of Heaven to assist the enter- 
prise and to direct its course, and before giving the order 
to make sail he invokes the august divine Trinity. Then, 
once fairly at sea, while the waters agitate themselves, while 
the crew murmurs, he maintains, under God's care, a calm 
constancy of mind. 

His plan manifests itself in the very names which he 
imposes on the new islands, and each time that he is called 
upon to land upon one of them he worships the Almighty 
God, and only takes possession of it in the name of Jesus 
Christ. At whatever coast he approaches he has nothing 
more as his first idea than the planting on the shore of the 
sacred sign of the cross; and the divine name of the Re- 
deemer, which he had sung so frequently on the open sea 
to the sound of the murmuring waves — he is the first to 
make it reverberate in the new islands in the same way. 
When he institutes the Spanish colony he causes it to be 
commenced by the construction of a temple, where he first 
provides that the popular fetes shall be celebrated by august 
ceremonies. 

Here, then, is what Columbus aimed at and what he 
accomplished when he went in search, over so great an 
expanse of sea and of land, of regions up to that time unex- 
plored and uncultivated, but whose civilization, renown, and 
riches were to rapidly attain that immense development 
which we see to-day. 

In all this, the magnitude of the event, the efficacy and 
the variety of the benefits which have resulted from it, tend 
assuredly to celebrate he, who was the author of it, by a 
grateful remembrance and by all sorts of testimonials of 



COLUMBUS. 201 

honor; but, in the first place, we must recognize and ven- 
erate particularly the divine project, to which the discov- 
erer of the New World was subservient and which he 
knowingly obeyed. 

In order to celebrate worthily and in a manner suitable 
to the truth of the facts the solemn anniversary of Colum- 
bus, the sacredness of religion must be united to the splen- 
dor of the civil pomp. This is why, as previously, at the 
first announcement of the event, public actions of grace 
were rendered to the providence of the immortal God, upon 
the example which the Supreme Pontiff gave; the same 
also now, in celebrating the recollection of the auspicious 
event, we esteem that we must do as much. 

We decree to this effect, that the day of October 12th, or 
the following Sunday, if the respective diocesan bishops 
judge it to be opportune, that, after the offtce of the day, 
the solemn mass of the very Holy Trinity shall be celebrated 
in the cathedral and collegial churches of Spain, Italy, and 
the two Americas. In addition to these countries, we hope 
that, upon the initiative of the bishops, as much may be 
done in the others, for it is fitting that all should concur in 
celebrating with piety and gratitude an event which has 
been profitable to all. 

In the meanwhile, as a pledge of the celestial favors 
and in testimony of our fraternal good-will, we affection- 
ately accord in the Lord the Apostolic benediction to you, 
venerable brothers, to your clergy, and to your people. 

Given at Rome, near St. Peter's, July i6th of the year 
1892, the fifteenth of our Pontificate. 

Leo XIII. , Pope. 



TO SPAIN. 

Capkl Lofft. 
O generous nation! to whose noble boast, 
Illustrious Spain, the providence of Heaven 



202 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

A radiant sky of vivid power hath given, 
A land of flowers, of fruits, profuse; an host 
Of ardent spirits; when deprest the most, 

By great, enthusiastic impulse driven 
To deeds of highest daring. 



WRAPPED IN A VISION GLORIOUS. 

The Rev. John Lord, LL. D., a popular American lecturer and Con- 
gregational minister. Born in Portsmouth, N. H., December 27, 
1810. 

Wrapped up in those glorious visions which come only 
to a man of superlative genius, and which make him insens- 
ible to heat and cold and scanty fare, even to reproach and 
scorn, this intrepid soul, inspired by a great and original 
idea, wandered from city to city, and country to country, 
and court to court, to present the certain greatness and 
wealth of any state that would embark in his enterprise. 
But all were alike cynical, cold, unbelieving, and even insult- 
ing. He opposes overwhelming universal and overpower- 
ing ideas. To have surmounted these amid such protracted 
opposition and discouragment constitutes his greatness; 
and finally to prove his position by absolute experiment 
and hazardous enterprise makes him one of the greatest 
of human benefactors, whose fame W'ill last through all 
the generations of men. And as I survey that lonely, 
abstracted, disappointed, and derided man — poor and unim- 
portant; so harassed by debt that his creditors seized even 
his maps and charts; obliged to fly from one country to 
another to escape imprisonment; without even listeners and 
still less friends, and yet with ever-increasing faith in his 
cause; utterly unconquerable; alone in opposition to all the 
world — I think I see the most persistent man of enterprise 
that I have read of in history. Critics ambitious to say 
something new may rake out slanders from the archives of 



COLUMBUS. 203 

enemies and discover faults which derogate from the 
character we have been taught to admire and venerate; 
they may even point out spots, which we can not disprove, 
in that sun of glorious brightness which shed its beneficent 
rays over a century of darkness — but this we know, that 
whatever may be the force of detraction, his fame has been 
steadily increasing, even on the admission of his slander- 
ers, for three centuries, and that he now shines as a fixed 
star in the constellation of the great lights of modern times, 
not only because he succeeded in crossing the ocean when 
once embarked on it, but for surmounting the moral diffi- 
culties which lay in his way before he could embark upon 
it, and for being finally instrumental in conferring the 
greatest boon that our world has received from any mortal 
man since Noah entered into the ark. 



BY THE GRACE OF GOD HE WAS WHAT HE WAS. 
RossELY DE LoRGUES, a Catholic biographer. 
Columbus did not owe his great celebrity to his genius 
or conscience, but only to his vocation, to his faith, and to 
the Divine grace. 



IN HONOR OF COLUMBUS. 

Archbishop Janssens of New Orleans has issued a letter 
to his diocese directing a general observance of the 400th 
anniversary of the discovery of America. The opening 
paragraph reads: 

"Christopher Columbus was a sincere and devout Cath- 
olic; his remarkable voyage was made possible by the 
intercession of a holy monk and by the patronage and lib- 
erality of the pious Queen Isabella. The cross of Christ, 
the emblem of our holy religion, was planted on America's 
virgin soil, and the Te Deum and the holy mass were the 
first religious services held on the same. It is, therefore, 



204 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

just and proper that this great event and festival should be 
celebrated in a religious as well as a civil manner." 

The Pope having set the Julian date of October 12th 
for the celebration, and the President October 21st, the 
archbishop directs that exercises be held on both these 
days — the first of a religious character, the second civic. 
October 12th a solemn votive mass will be sung in all the 
churches of the diocese, with an exhortation, and October 
2ist in the city of New Orleans the clergy will assemble 
at the archiepiscopal residence early in the morning and 
march to the cathedral, where services will be held at 7.30 
o'clock. Sermons of ten minutes each are to be preached 
in English, French, Spanish, German, and Italian. 



THE LMPREGNABLE WILL OF COLUMBUS. 

James Russell Lowell, an American poet. Born in Boston, 1819; 
died in Cambridge, i8gi. From " W. L. Garrison." Hough 
ton, Mifflin «S: Co., Boston. 

Such earnest natures are the fiery pith. 

The compact nucleus, round which systems grow. 

Mass after mass becomes inspired therewith, 
And whirls impregnate with the central glow. 

O Truth! O Freedom! how are ye still born 
In the rude stable, in the manger nursed. 

What humble hands unbar those gates of morn 

Through which the splendors of the new day burst. 

Whatever can be known of earth we know. 

Sneered Europe's wise men, in their snail-shells 
curled; 

No! said one man in Genoa, and that no 
Out of the dark created this New World. 

Men of a thousand shifts and wiles, look here; 
See one straightforward conscience put in pawn 



COLUMBUS. 205 

To win a world; see the obedient spliere 
By bravery's simple gravitation drawn. 

Shall we not heed the lesson taught of old, 
And by the Present's lips repeated still, 

In our own single manhood to be bold, 

Fortressed in conscience and impregnable will? 

COLUMBUS THE KING OF DISCOVERERS. 

He in the palace-aisles of untrod woods 
Doth walk a king; for him the pent-up cell 
Widens beyond the circles of the stars, 
And all the sceptered spirits of the past 
Come thronging in to greet him as their peer; 
While, like an heir new-crowned, his heart 

o'erleaps 
The blazing steps of his ancestral throne. — Ibid. 

Columbus, seeking the back door of Asia, found himself 
knocking at the front door of America. — Ibid. 

THE PATIENCE OF COLUMBUS. 

From " Columbus," a poem by the same author. Published by 
Houghton, Mifflin & Co. 

Chances have laws as fixed as planets have; 
And disappointment's dry and bitter root. 
Envy's harsh berries, and the choking pool 
Of the world's scorn are the right mother-milk 
To the tough hearts that pioneer their kind. 
And break a pathway to those unknown realms 
That in the earth's broad shadow lie enthralled; 
Endurance is the crowning quality, 
And patience all the passion of great hearts; 
These are their stay, and when the leaden world 
Sets its hard face against their fateful thought, 
And brute strength, like a scornful conqueror. 



206 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

Clangs his huge mace down in the other scale, 
The inspired soul but flings his patience in, 
And slowly that outweighs the ponderous globe- 
One faith against a whole world's unbelief. 
One soul against the flesh of all mankind. 

I know not when this hope enthralled me first, 
But from my boyhood up I loved to hear 
The tall pine forests of the Apennine 
Murmur their hoary legends of the sea; 
Which hearing, I in vision clear beheld 
The sudden dark of tropic night shut down 
O'er the huge whisper of great watery wastes. 



I brooded on the wise Athenian's tale 

Of happy Atlantis, and heard Bjorne's keel 

Crunch the gray pebbles of the Vinland shore. 

Thus ever seems it when my soul can hear 
The voice that errs not; then my triumph 

gleams, 
O'er the blank ocean beckoning, and all night 
My heart flies on before me as I sail; 
Far on I see my life-long enterprise! 



Lytton (Lord). Seepos/, "Schiller." 



VESPUCCI AN ADVENTURER. 

Thomas Babington, Baron M.'VCAUL.'VY, one of Enq;land's most cele- 
brated historians. Born at Rolhley Temple, Leicestershire, 
October 25, iSoo; died, December 28, 1859. 

Vespucci, an adventurer who accidentally landed in a 
rich and unknown island, and who, though he only set up 



COLUMBUS, 207 

an ill-shaped cross upon the shore, acquired possession of 
its treasures and gave his name to a continent which should 
have derived its appellation from Columbus. 



COLUMBUS NEITHER A VISIONARY NOR AN IMBECILE. 

Charles P. Mackie, an American author. From his "With the 
Admiral of the Ocean Sea." Published by Messrs. A. C. 
McClurg & Co. , Chicago. 

Whatever were his mistakes and shortcomings, Colon 
was neither a visionary nor an imbecile. Had he been per- 
fect in all things and wise to the point of infallibility, we could 
not have claimed him as the glorious credit he was to the 
common humanity to which we all belong. His greatness 
was sufficient to cover with its mantle far more of the 
weaknesses of frail mortality than he had to draw under 
its protection; and it becomes us who attempt to analyze 
his life in these later days, to bear in mind that, had his lot 
befallen ourselves, the natives of the western world would 
still, beyond a peradventure, be wandering in undraped 
peace through their tangled woods, and remain forever 
ignorant of the art of eating meat. In his trials and dis- 
tresses the Admiral encountered only the portion of the 
sons of Adam; but to him was also given, as to few before 
or since, to say with the nameless shepherd of Tempe's 
classic vale, "I, too, have lived in Arcady." 

Colon did not merely discover the New World. He 
spent seven years and one month among the islands and 
on the coasts of the hemisphere now called after the ship- 
chandler who helped to outfit his later expeditions. For 
the greater part of that time he was under the constant 
burden of knowing that venomous intrigue and misrepre- 
sentation were doing their deadly work at home while he 
did what he believed was his Heaven-imposed dutv on 
this side the Atlantic. 



208 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

THE COLUMBUS MONUMENT IN MADRID. 

At the top of the Paseo de Recoletos is a monument to 
Columbus in the debased Gothic style of Ferdinand and 
Isabella. It was unveiled in 1885. The sides are orna- 
mented with reliefs and the whole surmounted by a white 
marble statue. Among the sculptures are a ship and a 
globe, with the inscription: 

A Castilla y d Leon 
Ntievo in undo did Colon. 

{^Translation^ 
To Castille and Leon 
Columbus gave a new world. 



VISIT OF COLUMBUS TO ICELAND. 

Finn Magnusen, an Icelandic historian and antiquary. Born at Skal- 
holt, 17S1; died, 1847. 

The English trade with Iceland certainly merits the con- 
sideration of historians, if it furnished Columbus with the 
opportunity of visiting that island, there to be informed of 
the historical evidence respecting the existence of impor- 
tant lands and a large continent in the west. If Columbus 
should have acquired a knowledge of the accounts trans- 
mitted to us of the discoveries of the Northmen in con- 
versations held in Latin with the Bishop of Skalholt and 
the learned men of Iceland, we may the more readily con- 
ceive his firm belief in the possibility of rediscovering a 
western continent, and his unwearied zeal in putting his 
plans in execution. The discovery of America, so moment- 
ous in its results, may therefore be regarded as the mediate 
consequence of its previous discovery by the Scandinavians, 
which may be thus placed among the most important 
events of former ages. 




STATUE OF COLUMBUS, BY SENOR G. SUNOL, ON THE MONUMENT IN THE 

PASEO DE RECOLETOS iDEVOTEES' PROMENADEi, MADRID, SPA:N. 

Erected, 1885. 

(See page 208.) 



COLUMBUS. 209 

SYMPATHY FOR COLUMBUS. 

Richard Henry Major, F. S. A., late keeper of the printed books in 
the British Museum; a learned antiquary. Born in London, iSio; 
died June 25, 1891. 

It is impossible to read without the deepest sympathy 
the occasional murmurings and half-suppressed complaints 
which are uttered in the course of his letter to Ferdinand 
and Isabella describing his fourth voyage. These mur- 
murings and complaints were rung from his manly spirit 
by sickness and sorrow, and though reduced almost to the 
brink of despair by the injustice of the King, yet do we 
find nothing harsh or disrespectful in his language to the 
sovereign. A curious contrast is presented to us. The 
gift of a world could not move the monarch to gratitude; 
the infliction of chains, as a recompense for that gift, could 
not provoke the subject to disloyalty. The same great 
heart which through more than twenty wearisome years of 
disappointment and chagrin gave him strength to beg and 
buffet his way to glory, still taught him to bear with 
majestic, meekness the conversion of that glory into unmer- 
ited shame. 

********* 

We look back with astonishment and admiration at the 
stupendous achievement effected a whole lifetime later by 
the immortal Columbus — an achievement which formed the 
connecting link between the Old World and the New; yet 
the explorations instituted by Prince Henry of Portugal 
were in truth the anvil upon which that link was forged. 

He arrived in a vessel as shattered as his own broken 
and careworn frame. 



14 



210 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

COLUMBUS HEARD OF NORSE DISCOVERIES. 

Conrad Malte-Brun, a Danish author and geographer of great merit. 
Bom at Thister in Jutland, 1775; died, December, 1026. 

Columbus, when in Italy, had heard of the Xorse discov- 
eries beyond Iceland, for Rome was then the world's cen- 
ter, and all information of importance was sent there. 



COLUMBUS AND COPERNICUS. 

Helen P. Margesson, in an article entitled " Marco Polo's Explorations, 
and their Influence upon Columbus " (being the Old South First 
Prize Essay. 1 891), published in the Nev} England Alagazine, 
August, i3g2. 

Columbus performed his vast undertaking in an age of 
great deeds and great men, when Ficino taught the philos- 
ophy of Plato, when Florence was thrilled by the luring 
words and martyrdom of Savonarola, when Michael Angelo 
wrought his everlasting marvels of art. While Columbus, 
in his frail craft, was making his way to " worlds unknown, 
and isles beyond the deep," on the shores of the Baltic a 
young novitiate, amid the rigors of a monastic life, was 
tracing the course of the planets, and solving the problem 
in which Virgil delighted^ — problems which had baffled 
Chaldean and Persian, Egyptian and Saracen. Columbus 
explained the earth, Copernicus explained the heavens. 
Neither of the great discoverers lived to see the result of 
his labors, for the Prussian astronomer died on the day 
that his work was published. But the centuries that have 
come and gone have only increased the fame of Columbus 
and Copernicus, and proven the greatness of their genius, 

^ Docuit quae maximus Atlas. Hie canit errantem Lemam, Solisque 
labores. Virgil, jE,neid, I, 741. 



COLUMBUS. 211 

COLUMBUS AND THE FOURTH CENTENARY OF HIS DISCOVERY. 

Commander Cleme.nts Robert Markha.m, R. N., C. B., F. R. .S., a 
noted explorer and talented English author. Midshipman in 
H. M. S. Assistance in the Franklin Search Expedition, 1850-51. 
Born July 20, 1830, at Stillingfleet, near York. From a paper 
read before the Royal Geographical Society of England, June 
20, 1892. 

In the present year the fourth centenary of the discovery 
of America by Columbus will be celebrated with great 
enthusiasm in Spain, in Italy, and in America. That dis- 
covery was, without any doubt, the most momentous event 
since the fall of the Roman Empire in its effect on the 
world's history. In its bearings on our science, the light 
thrown across the sea of darkness by the great Genoese 
was nothing less than the creation of modern geography. 
It seems fitting, therefore, that this society should take 
some share in the commemoration, and that we should 
devote one evening in this session to a consideration of 
some leading points in the life of the foremost of all 
geographers. * * * 

Much new light has been thrown upon the birth and 
early life of Columbus, of late years, by the careful examina- 
tion of monastic and notarial records at Genoa and Savona. 
At Genoa the original documents are still preserved. At 
Savona they no longer exist, and we are dependent on 
copies made two centuries ago by Salinerius. But both the 
Genoa and Savona records may be safely accepted, and we 
are thus furnished with a new and more interesting view of 
the early life of Columbus. Our thanks for this new light 
are mainly due to the laborious and scholarly researches of 
the Marchese Marcello Stagiieno of Genoa, and to the 
work of Mr. Harrisse. We may take it as fully established 
that the original home of Giovanni Colombo, the grand- 
father of the great discoverer, was at Terrarossa, a small 



213 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

Stone house, the massive walls of which are still standing 
on a hillside forming the northern slope of the beautiful 
valley of Fontanabuona. Here, no doubt, the father of 
Columbus was born; but the family moved to Quinto-al- 
Mare, then a fishing village about five miles east of Genoa. 
Next we find the father, Domenico Colombo, owning a 
house at Quinto, but established at Genoa as a wool weaver, 
with an apprentice. This was in 1439. ^ few years after- 
ward Domenico found a wife in the family of a silk weaver 
who lived up a tributary valley of the Bisagno, within an 
easy walk of Genoa. Quezzi is a little village high up on 
the west side of a ravine, with slopes clothed to their 
summits in olive and chestnut foliage, whence there is a 
glorious view of the east end of Genoa, including the 
church of Carignano and the Mediterranean. On the 
opposite slope are the scattered houses of the hamlet of 
Ginestrato. From this village of Quezzi Domenico brought 
his wife, Susanna Fontanarossa, to Genoa, her dowry con- 
sisting of a small property, a house or a field, at Ginestrato. 
About the home of Domenico and his wife at Genoa 
during at least twenty years there is absolute certainty. 
The old gate of San Andrea is still standing, with its lofty 
arch across the street, and its high flanking towers. A 
street with a rapid downward slope, called the Vico Dritto 
di Ponticelli, leads from the gate of San Andrea to the 
Church of S. Stefano; and the house of Domenico Colombo 
was in this street, a few doors from the gate. It was the 
weavers' quarter, and S. Stefano was their parish church, 
where they had a special altar. Domenico's house had two 
stories besides the ground floor; and there was a back gar- 
den, with a well between it and the city wall. It was bat- 
tered down during the bombardment of Genoa in the time 
of Louis XIV., was rebuilt with two additional stories, and 
is now the property of the city of Genoa. 



COLUMBUS. 213 

This was the house of the parents of Columbus, and at a 
solemn moment, shortly before his death, Columbus stated 
that he was born in the city of Genoa. No. 39 Vico Dritto 
di Ponticelli was therefore, in all probability, the house 
where the great discoverer was born, and the old Church of 
San Stefano, with its facade of alternate black and white 
courses of marble, and its quaint old campanile, was the 
place of his baptism. The date of his birth is fixed by 
three statements of his own, and by a justifiable inference 
from the notarial records. He said that he went to sea at 
the age of fourteen, and that when he came to Spain in 
1485 he had led a sailor's life for twenty-three years. He 
was, therefore, born in 1447. In 1501 he again said that it 
was forty years since he first went to sea when he was four- 
teen; the same result — 1447. In 1503 he wrote that he first 
came to serve for the discovery of the Indies — that is, that 
he left his home at the age of twenty-eight. This was in 
1474, and the result is again 1447. The supporting nota- 
rial evidence is contained in two documents, in which the 
mother of Columbus consented to the sale of property 
by her husband. For the first deed, in May, 147 1, the 
notary summoned her brothers to consent to the execution 
of the deed, as the nearest relations of full age. The 
second deed is witnessed by her son Cristoforo in August, 
1473. He must have attained the legal age of twenty-five 
in the interval. This again makes 1447 the year of his 
birth. 

The authorities who assign 1436 as the year of his birth 
rely exclusively on the guess of a Spanish priest, Dr. Ber- 
naldez, Cura of Palacios, who made the great discoverer's 
acquaintance toward the end of his career. Bernaldez, 
judging from his aged appearance, thought that he might 
be seventy years of age, more or less, when he died. The 
use of the phrase "more or less" proves that Bernaldez 



214 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

had no information from Columbus himself, and that he 
merely guessed the years of the prematurely aged hero. 
This is not evidence. The three different statements of 
Columbus, supported by the corroborative testimony of 
the deeds of sale, form positive evidence, and fix the date 
of the birth at 1447. 

We know the place and date of the great discoverer's 
birth, thanks to the researches of the Marchese Staglieno. 
The notarial records, combined with incidental statements 
of Columbus himself, also tell us that he was brought up, 
with his brothers and sister, in the Vico Dritto at Genoa; 
that he worked at hisfather's trade and became a "lanerio," 
or wool weaver; that he moved with his father and mother 
to Savona in 1472; and that the last document connecting 
Cristoforo Colombo with Italy is dated on August 7, 1473. 
After that date — doubtless very soon after that date, when 
he is described as a wool weaver of Genoa — Columbus 
went to Portugal, at the age of twenty-eight. But we also 
know that, in spite of his regular business as a weaver, he 
first went to sea in 1461, at the age of fourteen, and that he 
continued to make frequent voyages in the Mediterranean 
and the Archipelago — certainly as far as Chios — although 
his regular trade was that of a weaver. 

This is not a mere question of places and dates. These 
facts enable us to form an idea of the circumstances sur- 
rounding the youth and early manhood of the future 
discoverer, of his training, of the fuel which lighted the 
fire of his genius, and of the difficulties which sur- 
rounded him. Moreover, a knowledge of the real facts 
serves to clear away all the misleading fables about student 
life at Pavia, about service with imaginary uncles who were 
corsairs or admirals, and about galleys commanded for King 
R6ne. Some of these fables are due to the mistaken piety 
of the great discoverer's son Hernando, and to others, who 



COLUMBUS. 215 

seem to have thought that they were doing honor to the 
memory of the Admiral by surrounding his youth with 
romantic stories. But the simple truth is far more honor- 
able, and, indeed, far more romantic. It shows us the 
young weaver loving his home and serving his pn,rentswith 
filial devotion, but at the same time preparing, with zeal 
and industry, to become an expert in the profession for 
which he was best fitted, and even in his earliest youth 
making ready to fulfill his high destiny. 

I believe that Columbus had conceived the idea of sail- 
ing westward to the Indies even before he left his home at 
Savona. My reason is, that his correspondence with Tos- 
canelli on the subject took place in the very year of his 
arrival in Portugal. That fact alone involves the position 
that the young weaver had not only become a practical sea- 
man — well versed in all the astronomical knowledge neces- 
sary for his profession — acosmographer, and a draughtsman, 
but also that he had carefully digested what he had learned, 
and had formed original conceptions. It seems wonderful 
that a humble weaver's apprentice could have done all 
this in the intervals of his regular work. Assuredly it is 
most wonderful; but I submit that his correspondence with 
Toscanelli in 1474 proves it to be a fact. We know that 
there were the means of acquiring such knowledge at 
Genoa in those days; that city was indeed the center of 
the nautical science of the day. Benincasa, whose beautiful 
Portolani may still be seen at the British Museum, and in 
other collections, was in the height of his fame as a 
draughtsman at Genoa during the youth of Columbus; so 
was Pareto. In the workrooms of these famous cartog- 
raphers the young aspirant would see the most accurate 
charts that could then be produced, very beautifully exe- 
cuted; and his imagination would beexcitedby the appear- 
ance of all the fabulous islands on the verge of the 
unknown ocean. 



216 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA, 

When the time arrived for Columbus to leave his home, 
he naturally chose Lisbon as the point from whence he 
could best enlarge his experience and mature his plans. 
Ever since he could remember he had seen the inscriptions 
respecting members of the Pasagni family, as we may see 
them now, carved on the white courses of the west front of 
San Stefano, his parish church. These Cienoese Pasagni 
had been hereditary Admirals of Portugal; they had 
brought many Genoese seamen to Lisbon; the Cross of St. 
George marked their exploits on the Portola?ii, and Portugal 
was thus closely connected with the tradition of Genoese 
enterprise. So it was to Lisbon that Columbus and his 
brother made their way, and it was during the ten years of 
his connection with Portugal that his cosmographical 
studies, and his ocean voyages from the equator to the 
arctic circle, combined with /lis genius to make Coluiiibiis the 
greatest seaman of his age. 

Capt. Duro, of the Spanish navy, has investigated all 
questions relating to the ships of the (^lolumbian period and 
their equipment with great care; and the learning he has 
brought to bear on the subject has produced very interest- 
ing results. The two small caravels provided for the voy- 
age of Columbus by the town of Palos were only partially 
decked. The Pinta was strongly built, and was originally 
lateen-rigged on all three masts, and she was the fastest 
sailer in the expedition; but she was only fifty tons burden, 
with a complement of eighteen men. The Nina, so-called 
after the Nino family of Palos, who owned her, was still 
smaller, being only forty tons. These two vessels were 
commanded by the Pinzons, and entirely manned by natives 
of the province of Huelva. The third vessel was much 
larger, and did not belong to Palos. She was called a 
"nao," or ship, and was of about one hundred tons burden, 
completely decked, with a high poop and forecastle. Her 



COLUMBUS. 217 

length has been variously estimated. Two of her masts had 
square sails, the mizzen being lateen-rigged. The fore- 
mast had a square foresail, the mainmast a mainsail and 
maintopsail, and there was aspritsail on the bowsprit. The 
courses were enlarged, in fair weather, by lacing strips of 
canvas to their leeches, called bonetas. There appear to 
have been two boats, one with a sail, and the ship was 
armed with lombards. The rigs of these vessels were admir- 
ably adapted for their purpose. The large courses of the 
caravels enabled their commanders to lay their courses 
nearer to the wind than any clipper ship of modern times. 
The crew of the ship Santa Maria numbered fifty-two men 
all told, including the Admiral. She was owned by the 
renowned pilot Juan de la Cosa of Santona, who sailed with 
Columbus on both his first and second voyages, and was 
the best draughtsman in Spain. Mr. Harrisse, and even 
earlier writers, such as Vianello, call him a Basque pilot, 
apparently because he came from the north of Spain; but 
Santona, his birthplace, although on the coast of the Bay 
of Biscay, is not in the Basque provinces; and if Juan de 
la Cosa was a native of Santona he was not a Basque. 
While the crews of the two caravels all came from Palos or 
its neighborhood, the men of the Santa Maria were recruited 
from all parts of Spain, two from Santona besides Juan de 
la Cosa, which was natural enough, and several others from 
northern ports, likewise attracted, in all probability, by the 
fame of the Santona pilot. Among these it is very inter- 
esting to find an Englishman, who came from the little town 
of Lajes, near Coruila. 

Our countryman is called in the list, " Tallarte de Lajes" 
(Ingl6s). It is not unlikely that an English sailor, making 
voyages from Bristol or from one of the Cinque Ports to 
Coruiia, may have married and settled at Lajes. But 
what can we make of "Tallarte"? Spaniards would be 



218 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

likely enough to prefix a " T " to any English name begin- 
ning with a vowel, and they would be pretty sure to give 
the word a vowel termination. So, getting rid of these 
initial and terminal superfluities, there remains Allart, or 
Alard. This was a famous name among the sailors of the 
Cinque Ports. Gervaise Alard of Winchelsea in 1306 was 
the first English admiral; and there were Alards of Win- 
chelsea for several generations, who were renowned as 
expert and daring sailors. One of them, I believe, sailed 
with Columbus on his first voyage, and perished at 
Navidad. 

Columbus took with him the map furnished by Toscanelli. 
It is unfortunately lost. But the globe of Martin Behaim, 
drawn in 1492 — the very year of the sailing of Columbus — 
shows the state of knowledge on the eve of the discovery 
of America. The lost map of Toscanelli must have been 
very like it, with its islands in mid-Atlantic, and its archi- 
pelago grouped round Cipango, near the coast of Cathay. 
This globe deserves close attention, for its details must be 
impressed on the minds of all who would understand what 
were the ideas and hopes of Columbus when he sailed from 
Palos. 

Friday, August 3, 1492, when the three little vessels sailed 
over the bar of Saltes, was a memorable day in the world's 
history. It had been prepared for by many years of study 
and labor, by long years of disappointment and anxiety, 
rewarded at length by success. The proof was to be made 
at last. To the incidents of that famous voyage nothing 
can be added. But we may, at least, settle the long-dis- 
puted question of the landfall of Columbus. It is certainly 
an important question. There are the materials for a final 
decision, and we ought to know for certain on what spot of 
land it was that the Admiral knelt when he sprang from 
the boat on that famous 12th of October, 1492, 



COLUMBUS. 2in 

The learned have disputed over the matter for a century, 
and no less than five islands of the Bahama group have had 
their advocates. This is not the fault of Columbus, albeit 
we only have an abstract of his journal. The island is there 
fully and clearly described, and courses and distances are 
given thence to Cuba, which furnish data for fixing the 
landfall with precision. Here it is not a case for the learn- 
ing and erudition of Navarretes, Humboldts, and Varnha- 
gens. It is a sailor's question. If the materials from the 
journal were placed in the hands of any midshipman in her 
Majesty's navy, he would put his finger on the true landfall 
within half an hour. When sailors took the matter in hand, 
such as Admiral Becher, of the Hydrographic Office, and 
Lieut. Murdoch, of the United States navy, they did so. 

Our lamented associate, Mr. R, H. Major, read a paper 
on this interesting subject on May 8, 187 1, in which he 
proved that Watling's Island was the Guanahani, or San Sal- 
vador, of Columbus. He did so by two lines of argument 
— the first being the exact agreement between the descrip- 
tion of Guanahani, in the journal of Columbus, and Wat- 
ling's Island, a description which can not be referred to any 
other island in the Bahama group; and the second being a 
comparison of the maps of Juan de la Cosa and of Herrera 
with modern charts. He showed that out of twenty-four 
islands on the Herrera map of 1600, ten retain the same 
names as they then had, thus affording stations for compar- 
ison; and the relative bearings of these ten islands lead us 
to the accurate identification of the rest. The shapes are 
not correct, but the relative bearings are, and the Guana- 
hani of the Herrera map is thus identified with the present 
Watling's Island. Mr. Major, by careful and minute atten- 
tion to the words of the journal of Columbus, also estab- 
lished the exact position of the first anchorage as having 
been a little to the west of the southeast pomt of Watling's 
Island. 



220 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

I can not leave the subject of Mr. Major's admirable paper 
without expressing my sense of the loss sustained by com- 
parative geography when his well-known face, so genial 
and sympathetic, disappeared from among us. The biog- 
rapher of Prince Henry the Navigator, Major did more 
than any other Englishman of this century to bring the 
authentic history of Columbus within the reach of his coun- 
trymen. His translations of the letters of the illustrious 
Genoese, and the excellent critical essay which preceded 
them, are indispensable to every English student of the his- 
tory of geographical discovery who is not familiar with the 
Spanish language, and most useful even to Spanish scholars. 
His knowledge of the history of cartography, his extensive 
and accurate scholarship, and his readiness to impart his 
knowledge to others, made him a most valuable member of 
the council of this society, and one whose place is not easy 
to fill; while there are not a few among the Fellows who, 
like myself, sincerely mourn the loss of a true and warm- 
hearted friend. 

When we warmly applauded the close reasoning and the 
unassailable conclusions of Major's paper, we supposed that 
the question was at length settled; but as time went on, 
arguments in favor of other islands continued to appear, 
and an American in a high official position even started a 
new island, contending that Samana was the landfall. But 
Fox's Samana and Varnhagen's Mayaguana must be ruled 
out of court without further discussion, for they both occur 
on the maps of Juan de la Cosa and Herrera, on which 
Guanahani also appears. It is obvious that they can not be 
Guanahani and themselves at the same time; and it is per- 
haps needless to add that they do not answer to the descrip- 
tion of Guanahani by Columbus, and meet none of the other 
requirements. 

On this occasion it may be well to identify the landfall 



COLUMBUS. 221 

by another method, and thus furnish some further strength 
to the arguments which ought to put an end to the contro- 
versy. Major established the landfall by showing the 
identity between the Guanahani of Columbus and Watling's 
Island, and by the evidence of early maps. There is still 
another method, which was adopted by Lieut. Murdoch, of 
the United States navy, in his very able paper. Columbus 
left Guanahani and sailed to his second island, which he 
called Santa Maria de la Concepcion; and he gives the 
bearing and distance. He gives the bearing and distance 
from this second island to the north end of a third, which 
he called Fernandina. He gives the length of Fernandina. 
He gives the bearing and distance from the south end of 
Fernandina to a fourth island named Isabella, from Isa- 
bella to some rocks called Islas de Arena, and from Islas 
de Arena to Cuba. 

It is obvious that if we trace these bearings and distances 
backward from Cuba, they will bring us to an island which 
must necessarily be the Guanahani, or San Salvador, of 
Columbus. This is the sailor's method: On October 27th, 
when Columbus sighted Cuba at a distance of 20 miles, the 
bearing of his anchorage at sunrise of the same day, off the 
Islas de Arena, was N.E. 58 miles, and from the point 
reached in Cuba it was N.E. 75 miles. The Ragged Islands 
are 75 miles from Cuba, therefore the Islas de Arena of 
Columbus are identified with the Ragged Islands of modern 
charts. The Islas de Arena were sighted when Columbus 
was 56 miles from the south end of Fernandina, and E.N.E. 
from Isabella. These bearings show that Fernandina was 
Long Island, and that Isabella was Crooked Island, of 
modern charts. Fernandina was 20 leagues long N.N.W. 
and S.S.E.; Long Island is 20 leagues long N.N.W. and 
S.S.E. Santa Maria de la Concepcion was several miles 
east of the north end of Fernandina, but in sight. Rum 



223 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

Cay is several miles east of the north end of Long Island, 
but in sight. Rum Cay is, therefore, the Santa Maria of 
Columbus. San Salvador, or Guanahani, was 21 miles N.W. 
from Santa Maria de la Concepcion. Watling's Island is 21 
miles N.W. from Rum Cay; Watling's Island is, therefore, 
proved to be the San Salvador, or Guanahani, of Columbus, 
The spot where Columbus first landed m the New World is 
the eastern end of the south side of Watling's Island. 
This has been established by the arguments of Major, and 
by the calculations of Murdoch, beyond all controversy. 
The evidence is overwhelming. Watling's Island answers 
to every requirement and every test, whether based on the 
Admiral's description of the island itself, on the courses 
and distances thence to Cuba, or on the evidence of early 
maps. We have thus reached a final and satisfactory con- 
clusion, and we can look back on that momentous event in 
the world's history with the certainty that we know the 
exact spot on which it occurred — on which Columbus 
touched the land when he sprang from his boat with the 
standard waving over his head.''* 

^ Navarrete thought that Turk Island was the island, the most southern 
of the Bahama group, because he erroneously assumed that Columbus 
always shaped a westerly course in sailing from island to island; and 
Turk Island, being farthest east, would give most room for such a course. 
This islanil has large lagoons, and is surrounded by a reef. .So far it 
resembles Guanahani. But the second island, according to Navarrete, 
is Caicos, bearing W.N.W., while the second island of Columbus bore 
S.W. from the first. The third island of Columbus was in sight from the 
second. Inagua Chica (Little Inagua), Navarrete's third island, is not 
in sight from Caicos. The third island of Columbus was 60 miles long. 
Inagua Chica is only 12 miles long. The fourth island of Columbus 
bore east from the third. Inagua (Grande (Creat Inagua), Navarrete's 
fourth island, bears southwest from Inagua Chica. 

Cat Island was the landfall advocated by Washington Irving and 
Humboldt, mainly on the ground that it was called .San Sjlvador on the 
West India map in Blaeu's Dutch atlas of 1635. But this was done for 
no known reason but the caprice of the draughtsman. D'Anville copied 
from Blaeu in 1746, and so the name got into some later atlases. Cat 
Island does not meet a single one of the requirements of the case. 
Guanahani had a reef round it, and a large lagoon in the center Cat 



COLUMBUS. 223 

The discoveries of Columbus during his first voyage, 
as recorded in his journal, included part of the north coast 
of Cuba, and the whole of the north coast of Espanola. 
The journal shows the care with which the navigation was 
conducted, how observations for latitude were taken, how 
the coasts were laid down — every promontory and bay receiv- 
ing a name — and with what diligence each new feature of 
the land and its inhabitants was examined and recorded. 
The genius of Columbus would not have been of the same 
service to mankind if it had not been combined with great 
capacity for taking trouble, and with habits of order and 
accuracy. In considering the qualities of the great Genoese 
as a seaman and an explorer, we can not fail to be impressed 
with this accuracy, the result of incessant watchfulness and 
of orderly habits. Yet it is his accuracy which has been 
called in question by some modern writers, on the ground 
of passages in his letters which they have misinterpreted, or 
failed to understand. In every instance theblunder hasnot 
been committed by Columbus, but by his critics. 

The Admiral's letters do not show him to be either care- 
less or inaccurate. On the contrary, they bear witness to 
his watchfulness, to his methodical habits, and to his atten- 
tion to details; although at the same time they are full of 
speculations, and of the thoughts which followed each 
other so rapidly in his imaginative brain. It was, indeed, 
the combination of these two qualities, of practical and 
methodical habits of thought with a vivid imagination, 
which constituted his genius — a combination as rare as it is 
valuable. It created the thoughts which conceived the great 
discovery, as well as the skill and ability which achieved it. 

Island has no reef and no lagoon. Guanahani was low; Cat Island is the 
loftiest of the Bahamas. The two islands could not be more different. 
Of course, in conducting Columbus from Cat Island to Cuba, Washing- 
ton Irving is obliged to disregard all the bearings and distances given in 
the journal. 



224 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

Unfortunately, the journals and charts of Columbus are 
lost. But we have the full abstract of the journal of his 
first voyage, made by Las Casas, we have his letters and 
dispatches, and we have the map of his discoveries, except 
those made during his last voyage, drawn by his own pilot 
and draughtsman, Juan de la Cosa. We are thus able to 
obtain a sufficient insight into the system on which his ex- 
ploring voyages were conducted, and into the sequence in 
which his discoveries followed each other. This is the point 
of view from which the labors of the Admiral are most inter- 
esting to geographers. The deficient means at the disposal 
of a navigator in the end of the fifteenth century increase 
the necessity for a long apprenticeship. It is much easier 
to become a navigator with the aid of modern instruments 
constructed with extreme accuracy, and with tables of 
logarithms, nautical almanacs, and admiralty charts. With 
ruder appliances Columbus and his contemporaries had to 
trust far more to their own personal skill and watchfulness, 
and to ways of handling and using such instruments as they 
possessed, which could only be acquired by constant prac- 
tice and the experience of a lifetime. Even t/ien, an insight 
an i ability w/iic/i few men possess were i-equired to make such 
a navigator as Columbus. 

The first necessity for a pilot who conducts a ship across 
the ocean, when he is for many days out of sight of land, 
is the means of checking his dead reckoning by observa- 
tions of the heavenly bodies. But in the days of Columbus 
such appliances were very defective, and, at times, alto- 
gether useless. There was an astrolabe adapted for use at 
sea by Martin Behaim, but it was very difficult to get a 
decent sight with it, and Vasco da Gama actually went on 
shore and rigged a triangle when he wanted to oberve for 
latitude. If this was necessary, the instrument was useless 
as a guide across the pathless ocean. Columbus, of course, 



COLUMBUS. 235 

used it, but he seems to have relied more upon the old 
quadrant which he had used for long years before Behaim 
invented his adaption of the astrolabe. It was this instru- 
ment, the value of which received such warm testimony 
from Diogo Gomez, one of Prince Henry's navigators; and 
it was larger and easier to handle than the astrolabe. But 
the difficulty, as regards both these instruments,^^ was the 
necessity for keeping them perpendicular to the horizon 
when the observation is taken, in one case by means of a 
ring working freely, and in the other by a plummet line. 
The instruction of old Martin Cortes was to sit down with 
your back against the mainmast; but in reality the only man 
who obtained results of any use from such instruments was 
he who had been constantly working with them from early 
boyhood. In those days, far more than now, a good pilot 
had to be brought up at sea from his youth. Long habit 
could alone make up, to a partial extent, for defective 
means. 

Columbus regularly observed for latitude when the 
weather rendered it possible, and he occasionally attempted 
to find the longitude by observing eclipses of the moon with 
the aid of tables calculated by old Regiomontanus, whose 
declination tables also enabled the Admiral to work out his 
meridian altitudes. But the explorer's main reliance was 
on the skill and care with which he calculated his dead 
reckoning, watchmg every sign offered by sea and sky by 
day and night, allowing for currents, for leeway, for every 
cause that could affect the movement of his ship, noting 
with infinite pains the bearings and the variation of his 
compass, and constantly recording all phenomena on his 
card and in his journal. Columbus was the true father of 
what we call proper pilotage. 

*' The cross-staff had not then come into use, and it was never of much 
service in low latitudes. 
15 



22G COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

It is most interesting to watch the consequences of this 
seaman-hke and most conscientious care in the results of his 
voyages of discovery. We have seen with what accuracy 
he made his landfall at the Azores, on his return from his 
first and most memorable voyage. The incidents of his 
second voyage are equally instructive. He had heard from 
the natives of the eastern end of Espanola that there were 
numerous islands to the southeast inhabited by savage tribes 
of Caribs, and when he sailed from Spain on his second 
voyage he resolved to ascertain the truth of the report 
before proceeding to his settlement at Navidad. He shaped 
such a course as to hit upon Dominica, and within a few 
weeks he discovered the whole of the Windward Islands, 
thence to Puerto Rico. On his return his spirit of investi- 
gation led him to try the possibility of making a passage in 
the teeth of the trade-wind. It was a long voyage, and his 
people were reduced to the last extremity, even threatening 
to eat the Indians who were on board. One night, to the 
surprise of all the company, the Admiral gave the order to 
shorten sail. Next morning, at dawn, Cape St. Vincent 
was in sight. This is a remarkable proof of the care with 
which his reckoning must have been kept, and of his con- 
summate skill as a navigator. On his third voyage he 
decided, for various reasons, to make further discoveries 
nearer to the equator, the result of his decision being the 
exploration of the Gulf of Paria, including the coast of 
Trinidad and of the continent. His speculations, although 
sometimes fantastic, and originating in a too vivid imagi- 
nation, were usually shrewd and carefully thought out. 
Thus they led from one discovery to another; and even 
when, through want of complete knowledge, there was a 
flaw in the chain of his reasoning, the results were equally 
valuable. 

A memorable example of an able and acute tram of 



COLUMBUS. 227 

thought, based on observations at sea, was that which led to 
his last voyage in search of a strait. He had watched the 
gulf stream constantly flowing in a westerly direction, and 
he thought that he had ascertained, as the result of careful 
observation, that the islands in the course of the current 
had their lengths east and west, owing to erosion on their 
north and south sides. From this fact he deduced the con- 
stancy of the current. His own pilot, Juan de la Cosa, 
serving under Ojeda and Bastidas, had established the con- 
tinuity of land from the Gulf of Paria to Darien. The 
Admiral himself had explored the coast of Cuba, both on 
the north and south sides, for so great a distance that he 
concluded it must surely be a promontory connected with 
the continent. The conclusion was that, as it could not 
turn to north or south, this current, ever flowing in one 
direction, must pass through a strait. The argument was 
perfectly sound except in one point — the continental char- 
acter of Cuba was an hypothesis, not an ascertained fact. 

Still, it was a brilliant chain of reasoning, and it led to a 
great result, though not to the expected result. Just as the 
search for the philosopher's stone led to valuable discover- 
ies in chemistry, and as the search for El Dorado revealed 
the courses of the two largest rivers in South America, so 
the Admiral's heroic effort to discover a strait in the face 
of appalling difficulties, in advancing years and failing 
health, made known the coast of the continent from Hon- 
duras to Darien. 

All the discoveries made by others, in the lifetime of 
Columbus, on the coasts of the western continent (except 
that of Cabral) were directly due to the first voyage of the 
Admiral, to his marvelous prevision in boldly sailing west- 
ward across the sea of darkness, and are to be classed as 
Columbian discoveries. This was clearly laid down by Las 
Casas, in a noble passage. " The Admiral was the first to 



228 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

open the gates of that ocean which had been closed for so 
many thousands of years before," exclaimed the good 
bishop. " He it was who gave the light by which all others 
might see how to discover. It can not be denied to the 
Admiral, except with great injustice, that as he was the 
first discoverer of those Indies, so he was really of all the 
mainland; and to him the credit is due. For it was he that 
put the thread into the hands of the rest by which they 
found the clew to more distant parts. It was not necessary 
for this that he should personally visit every part, any 
more than it is necessary to do so in taking possession of 
an estate; as the jurists hold." This generous protest by 
Las Casas should receive the assent of all geographers. 
The pupils and followers of Columbus, such as Pinzon, 
Ojeda, Nino, and La Cosa, discovered all the continent 
from 8 deg. S. of the equator to Darien, thus supplementing 
their great master's work; while he himself led the way, 
and showed the light both to the islands and to the 
continent. 

Although none of the charts of Columbus have come 
down to us, there still exists a map of all discoveries 
up to the year 1500, drawn by the pilot Juan de la Cosa, 
who accompanied him in his first and second voyages, and 
sailed with Ojeda on a separate expedition in 1499. when 
the coast of the contment was explored from the Gulf of 
Paria to Cabo de la A'ela. Juan de la Cosa drew this famous 
map of the world (which is preserved at Madrid) at Santa 
Maria, in the Bay of Cadiz, when he returned from his 
expedition with Ojeda in 1500. It is drawn in color, on ox- 
hide, and measures 5 feet 9 inches by 3 feet 2 inches. La 
Cosa shows the islands discovered by Columbus, but it is 
difticult to understand what he could have been thinking 
about in placing them north of the tropic of cancer. The 
continent is delineated from 8 deg. S. of the equator to Cabo 



COLUMBUS. 229 

de la Vela, which was the extreme point to which discovery- 
had reached in 1500; and over the undiscovered part to the 
west, which the Admiral himself was destined to bring to 
the knowledge of the world a few years afterward, Juan de 
la Cosa painted a vignette of St. Christopher bearing the 
infant Christ across the ocean. But the most important 
part of the map is that on which the discoveries of John 
Cabot are shown, for this is the only map which shows 
them. It is true that a map, or a copy of a map, of 1542, 
by Sebastian Cabot, was discovered of late years, and is 
now at Paris, and that it indicates the "Prima Vista," the 
first land seen by Cabot on his voyage of 1497 ; but it shows 
the later work of Jacques Cartier and other explorers, and 
does not show what part was due to Cabot. Juan de la 
Cosa, however, must have received, through the Spanish 
ambassador in London, the original chart of Cabot, show- 
ing his discoveries during his second voyage in 1498, and 
was enabled thus to include the new coast-line on his great 
map. 

The gigantic labor wore out his body. But his mind 
was as active as ever. He had planned an attempt to 
recover the Holy Sepulcher. He had thought out a scheme 
for an Arctic expedition, including a plan for reaching the 
north pole, which he deposited in the monastery of 
Mejorada. It was not to be. When he returned from his 
last voyage, he came home to die. We gather some idea 
of the Admiral's personal appearance from the descriptions 
of Las Casas and Oviedo. He was a man of middle height, 
with courteous manners and noble bearing. His face was 
oval, with a pleasing expression; the nose aquiline, the eyes 
blue, and the complexion fair and inclined to ruddiness. 
The hair was red, though it became gray soon after he was 
thirty. Only one authentic portrait of Columbus is known 
to have been painted. The Italian historian, Paulus Jovius 



230 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

who was his contemporary, collected a gallery of portraits 
of worthies of his time at his villa on the Lake of Como. 
Among them was a portrait of the Admiral. There is an 
early engraving from it, and very indifferent copies in the 
Uffizi at Florence, and at Madrid, But until quite recently 
I do not think that the original was known to exist. It, 
however, never left the family, and when the last Giovio 
died it was inherited by her grandson, the Nobile de Orche, 
who is the present possessor. We have the head of a ven- 
erable man, with thin gray hair, the forehead high, the eyes 
pensive and rather melancholy. It was thus that he doubt- 
less appeared during the period that he was in Spain, after 
his return in chains, or during the last year of his life. 

In his latter years we see Columbus, although as full as 
ever of his great mission, thinking more and moreof the trans- 
mission of his rights and his property intact to his children. 
He had always loved his home, and his amiable and affec- 
tionate disposition made many and lasting friendships in all 
ranks of life, from Queen Isabella and Archbishop Deza to 
the humblest grumete. We find his shipmates serving with 
him over and over again. Terreros, the Admiral's steward, 
and Salcedo, his servant, were with him in his first voyage 
and in his last. His faithful captains, Mendez and Fieschi, 
risked life and limb for him, and attended him on his death- 
bed. Columbus was also blessed with two loving and 
devoted brothers. In one of his letters to his son Diego, 
he said, " Never have I found better friends, on my right 
hand and on my left, than my brothers." Bartholomew, 
especially, was his trusty and gallant defender and coun- 
selor in his darkest hours of difficulty and distress, his nurse 
in sickness, and his helpful companion in health. The 
enduring affection of these two brothers, from the cradle to 
the grave, is most touching. Columbus was happy too in 
his handsome, promising young sons, who were ever dutiful, 



COLUMBUS. 231 

and whose welfare was his fondest care; they fulfilled all 
his hopes. One recovered the Admiral's rights, while the 
other studied his father's professional work, preserved his 
memorials, and wrote his life. Columbus never forgot his 
old home at Genoa, and the most precious treasures of the 
proud city are the documents which her illustrious son con- 
fided to her charge, and the letters in which he expressed 
his affection for his native town. Columbus was a man to 
reverence, but he was still more a man to love. 

The great discoverer's genius was a gift which is only 
produced once in an age, and it is that which has given 
rise to the enthusiastic celebration of the fourth centenary 
of his achievement. To geographers and sailors the care- 
ful study of his life will always be useful and instructive. 
They will be led to ponder over the deep sense of duty and 
responsibility which produced his unceasing and untiring 
watchfulness when at sea, over the long training which 
could alone produce so consummate a navigator, and over 
that perseverance and capacity for taking trouble which we 
should all not only admire but strive to imitate. I can not 
better conclude this very inadequate attempt to do justice 
to a great subject than by quoting the words of a geog- 
rapher, whose loss from among us we still continue to feel 
— the late Sir Henry Yule. He said of Columbus: "His 
genius and lofty enthusiasm, his ardent and justified pre- 
visions, mark the great Admiral as one of the lights of the 
human race." 



A DISCOVERY GREATER THAN THE LABORS OF HERCULES. 

PiETRO Martire de Anghiera (usually Called Peter Martyr), an Italian 
scholar, statesman, and historian. Born at Arona, on Lake 
Maggiore, in 1455; died at Granada, Spain, 1526. 

To declare my opinion herein, whatsoever hath hereto- 
fore been discovered by the famous travayles of Saturnus 



232 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

and Hercules, with such other whom the antiquitie for 
their heroical acts honoured as Gods, seemeth but little 
and obscure if it be compared to the victorious labours of 
the Spanyards. 

— Decad. ii, cap. 4, Lok's Translation. 



GENIUS TRAVELED WESTWARD. 

William Mason, an English poet. Born at Hull, 1725; died in 1797. 

Old England's genius turns with scorn away, 
Ascends his sacred bark, the saiis unfurled, 
And steers his state to the wide Western World. 



MISSION AND REWARD. 
J. N. Matthews, in Chicago Tribune, 1892. 

Sailing before the silver shafts of morn, 

He bore the White Christ over alien seas — 
The swart Columbus — into "lands forlorn," 

That lay beyond the dim Hesperides. 
Humbly he gathered up the broken chain 

Of human knowledge, and, with sails unfurled. 
He drew it westward from the coast of Spain, 

And linked it firmly to another world. 

Tho' blinding tempests drove his ships astray. 

And on the decks conspiring Spaniards grew 
More mutinous and dangerous, day by day, 

Than did the deadly winds that round him blew. 
Yet the bluff captain, with his bearded lip, 

His lordly purpose, and his high disdain, 
Stood like a master with uplifted whip, 

And urged his mad sea-horses o'er the main. 

Onward and onward thro' the blue profound, 
Into the west a thousand leagues or more, 



COLUMBUS. 233 

His caravels cut the billows till they ground 

Upon the shallows of San Salvador. 
Then, robed in scarlet like a rising morn, 

He climbed ashore and on the shining sod 
He gave to man a continent new-born; 

Then, kneeling, gave his gratitude to God. 

And his reward? In all the books of fate 

There is no page so pitiful as this — 
A cruel dungeon, and a monarch's hate, 

And penury and calumny were his; 
Robbed of his honors in his feeble age, 

Despoiled of glory, the old Genoese 
Withdrew at length from life's ungrateful stage, 

To try the waves of other unknown seas. 



EAGER TO SHARE THE REWARD. 

Letter written by the Duke of Medina Celi to the Grand Cardinal of 
. Spain, Pedro Gonzalez de Mendoza, dated March ig, 1493. 

Most Reverend Sir: I am not aware whether your 
Lordship knows that I had Cristoforo Colon under my 
roof for a long time when- he came from Portugal, and 
wished to go to the King of France, in order that he 
might go in search of the Indies with his Majesty's aid 
and countenance. I myself wished to make the venture, 
and to dispatch him from my port [Santa Maria], where I 
had a good equipment of three or four caravels, si)7ce he 
asked no more from me; but as I recognized that this was 
an undertaking for the Queen, our sovereign, I wrote about 
the matter to her Highness from Rota, and she replied 
that I should send him to her. Therefore I sent him, and 
asked her Highness that, since I did not desire to pursue 
the enterprise but had arranged it for her service, she 
should direct that compensation be made to me, and that 1 



234 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

might have a share in it by having the loading and unload- 
ing of the commerce done in the port. 

Her Highness received him [Colon], and referred him 
to Alonso de Quintanilla, who, in turn, 7urote vie that he did 
not consider this affair to be very certain; but that if it 
should go through, her Highness would give me a reward 
and part in it. After having well studied it, she agreed to 
send him in search of the Indies. Some eight months ago 
he set out, and now has arrived at Lisbon on his return 
voyage, and has found all which he sought and very com- 
pletely; which, as soon as I knew, in order to advise her 
Highness of such good tidings, I am writing by Inares 
and sending him to beg that she grant me the privilege of 
sending out there each year some of my own caravels. 

I entreat your Lordship that you may be pleased to 
assist me in this, and also ask it in my behalf; since on my 
accountj and through my 'keeping him [Colon] tnw years in 
?}ty house, and having placed him at her Majesty's service, 
so great a thing as this has come to pass; and because 
Inares will inform your Lordship more in detail, I beg you 
to hearken to him. 



COLUMBUS STATUE, CITY OF MEXICO. 

The Columbus monument, in the Paseo de la Reforma, in 
the City of Mexico, was erected at the charges of Don 
Antonio Escandon, to whose public spirit and enterprise 
the building of the Vera Cruz & Mexico Railway was due. 
The monument is the work of the French sculptor Cordier. 
The base is a large platform of basalt, surrounded by a 
balustrade of iron, above which are five lanterns. From 
this base rises a square mass of red marble, ornamented 
with four basso-relievos; the arms of Columbus, surrounded 
with garlands of laurels; the rebuilding of the monastery 
of Santa Maria de la R^bida; the discovery of the Island 



COLUMBUS. 235 

of San Salvador; a fragment of a letter from Columbus to 
Raphael Sanchez, beneath which is the dedication of 
the monument by Seilor Escandon. Above the basso- 
relievos, surrounding the pedestals, are four life-size figures 
in bronze; in front and to the right of the statue of Colum- 
bus (that stands upon a still higher plane), Padre Juan 
Perez de la Marchena, prior of the Monastery of Santa 
Maria de la Rabida, at Huelva, Spain; in front and to the 
left, Padre Fray Diego de Deza, friar of the Order of Saint 
Dominic, professor of theology at the Convent of St. 
Stephen, and afterward archbishop of Seville. He was 
also confessor of King Ferdinand, to the support of which 
two men Columbus owed the royal favor; in the rear, to 
the right, Fray Pedro de Gante; in the rear, to the left, 
Fray Bartolome de las Casas — the two missionaries who 
most earnestly gave their protection to the Indians, and 
the latter the historian of Columbus. Crowning the whole, 
upon a pedestal of red marble, is the figure of Columbus, 
in the act of drawing aside the veil that hides the New 
World. In conception and in treatment this work is admir- 
able; charming in sentiment, and technically good. The 
monument stands in a little garden inclosed by iron chains 
hung upon posts of stone, around which extends a large 
s:lorieta. 



THE TRIBUTE OF JOAQUIN MILLER. 

Joaquin (Cincinnatus Heine) Miller, "the Poet of the Sierras." 
Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, November lo, 1842. From a poem in 
the New York Independent. 

Behind him lay the gray Azores, 

Behind the gates of Hercules; 
Before him not the ghost of shores, 

Before him only shoreless seas. 



336 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

The good mate said, " Now must we pray, 

For lo! the very stars are gone. 
Brave Adm'ral, speak; what shall I say?" 

" Why say, ' Sail on! sail on! and on! ' " 

" My men grow mutinous day by day; 

My men grow ghastly, wan and weak." 
The stout mate thought of home; a spray 

Of salt wave washed his swarthy cheek. 
"What shall I say, brave Adm'ral, say. 

If we sight naught but seas at dawn?" 
" Why, you shall say, at break of day, 

'Sail on! sail on! sail on! and on!'" 

They sailed and sailed, as winds might blow. 

Until at last the blanched mate said, 
" Why, now not even God would know 

Should I and all my men fall dead. 
These very winds forget their way. 

For God from these dread seas is gone. 
Now speak, brave Adm'ral, speak and say — " 

He said, " Sail on! sail on! and on! " 

They sailed. They sailed. Then spoke the mate, 

" This mad sea shows its teeth to-night. 
He curls his lip, he lies in wait. 

With lifted teeth as if to bite. 
Brave Adm'ral, say but one good word; 

What shall we do when hope is gone? " 
The words leapt as a leaping sword, 

" Sail on! sail on! sail on! and on!" 

Then, pale and worn, he kept his deck, 

And peered through darkness. Ah, that night 

Of all dark nights! And then a speck — 
A light! A light! A light! A light! 



COLUMBUS, 237 

It grew, a starlit flag unfurled, 

It grew to be Time's burst of dawn. 

He gained a world; he gave that world 
Its grandest lesson — " On! and on! " 



ADMIRAL OF MOSQUITO LAND. 
D. H. Montgomery, American historian of the nineteenth century. 
Loud was the outcry against Columbus. The rabble 
nicknamed him the " Admiral of Mosquito Land." They 
pointed at him as the man who had promised everything, 
and ended by discovering nothing but "a wilderness peo- 
pled with naked savages." 



COLUMBUS AND THE INDIANS. 

Gen. Thomas J. Morgan, Commissioner of Indian Affairs. In an arti- 
cle, " Columbus and the Indians," in the New York Independent, 
June 2, 1892. 

Columbus, when he landed, was confronted with an 
Indian problem, which he handed down to others, and they 
to us. Four hundred years have rolled by, and it is still 
unsolved. Who were the strange people who met him at 
the end of his long and perilous voyage? He guessed at it 
and missed it by the diameter of the globe. He called 
them Indians — people of India — and thus registered the 
fifteenth century attainments in geography and anthro- 
pology. How many were there of them? Alas! there was 
no census bureau here then, and no record has come down 
to us of any count or enumeration. Would they have lived 
any longer if they had been counted? Would a census 
have strengthened them to resist the threatened tide of 
invaders that the coming of Columbus heralded? If instead 
of corn they had presented census rolls to their strange 
visitors, and exhibited maps to show that the continent 
was already occupied, would that have changed the whole 



238 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

course of history and left us without any Mayflower or 
Plymouth Rock, Bunker Hill or Appomattox? 



INTENSE UNCERTAINTY. 

Charles Morris, an American writer of the present day. In "Half 
Hours with American History." 

The land was clearly seen about two leagues distant, 
whereupon they took in sail and waited impatiently for the 
dawn. The thoughts and feelings of Columbus in this 
little space of time must have been tumultuous and intense. 
At length, in spite of every difificulty and danger, he had 
accomplished his object. The great mystery of the ocean 
was revealed; his theory, which had been the scoff of sages, 
was triumphantly established; he secured to himself a 
glory durable as the world itself. 

It is difficult to conceive the feelings of such a man at 
such a moment, or the conjectures which must have 
thronged upon his mind as to the land before him, covered 
with darkness. A thousand speculations must have 
swarmed upon him, as with his anxious crews he waited 
for the night to pass away, wondering whether the morning 
light would reveal a savage wilderness, or dawn upon spicy 
groves and glittering fanes and gilded cities, and all the 
splendor of oriental civilization. 



THE FIRST TO GREET COLUMBUS. 

Emma Huntington Nason. A poem in St. N'ic/wlas, July, 1892, 
founded upon the incident of Columbus' finding a red thorn bush 
floating in the water a few days before sighting Watling's Island. 

When the feast is spread in our country's name. 
When the nations are gathered from far and near, 

When East and West send up the same 

Glad shout, and call to the lands, " Good cheer! " 



COLUMBUS. 239 

When North and South shall give their bloom, 
The fairest and best of the century born. 

Oh, then for the king of the feast make room! 
Make room, we pray, for the scarlet thorn! 

Not the golden-rod from the hillsides blest. 

Not the pale arbutus from pastures rare. 
Nor the waving wheat from the mighty West, 

Nor the proud magnolia, tall and fair. 
Shall Columbia unto the banquet bring. 

They, willing of heart, shall stand and wait, 
For the thorn, with his scarlet crown, is king. 

Make room for him at the splendid fete! 

Do we not remember the olden tale? 

And that terrible day of dark despair. 
When Columbus, under the lowering sail, 

Sent out to the hidden lands his prayer? 
And was it not he of the scarlet bough 

Who first went forth from the shore to greet 
That lone grand soul at the vessel's prow, 

Defying fate with his tiny fleet? 

Grim treachery threatened, above, below, 

And death stood close at the captain's side, 
When he saw — Oh, joy! — in the sunset glow. 

The thorn-tree's branch o'er the waters glide. 
"Land! Land ahead!" was the joyful shout; 

The vesper hymn o'er the ocean swept; 
The mutinous sailors faced about; 

Together they fell on their knees and wept. 

At dawn they landed with pennons white; 

They kissed the sod of vSan Salvador; 
But dearer than gems on his doublet bright 

Were the scarlet berries their leader bore; 



240 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

Thorny and sharp, like his future crown, 

Blood-red, like the wounds in his great heart made. 

Yet an emblem true of his proud renown 
Whose glorious colors shall never fade. 



COLUMBA CHRISTUM-FERENS — WHAT's IN A NAME? 
New Orleans Morning Star and Catholic Messenger, August 13, 1892. 

The poet says that a rose by any other name would smell 
as sweet, but there is no doubt that certain names are 
invested with a peculiar significance. It would appear also 
that this significance is not always a mere chance coinci- 
dence, but is intended, sometimes, to carry the evidence of 
an overruling prevision. Christopher Columbus was not so 
named after his achievements, like Scipio Africanus. The 
name was his from infancy, though human ingenuity could 
not have conceived one more wonderfully suggestive of his 
after career. 

Columba means a dove. Was there anything dove-like 
about Columbus? Perhaps not, originally, but his many 
years of disappointment and humiliation, of poverty and 
contempt, of failure and hopelessness, were the best school 
in which lo learn patience and sweetness under the guiding 
hand of such teachers as faith and piety. Was anything 
wanting to perfect him in the unresisting gentleness of the 
dove? If so, his guardian angel saw to it when he sent him 
back in chains from the scenes of his triumph. He then 
and there, by his meekness, established his indefeasible 
right to the name Columbus — the right of conquest. 

And Christopher — Christum-fercns — the Christ-bearer? 
A saint of old was so called because one day he carried 
the child Christ on his shoulders across a dangerous ford. 
People called him Christo-pher. But what shall we say of 
the man who carried Christ across the stormy terrors of the 



COLUMBUS. 



241 

unknown sea? Wherever the modern Christopher landed 
there he planted the cross; his first act was always one of 
devout worship. And now that cross and that worship 
are triumphant from end to end, and from border to border 
of that New World. The very fa.rest flower of untram: 
meled freedom in the diadem of the Christian church is to- 
day bloommg within the mighty domain which this instru- 
ment of Providence wrested from the malign sway of error 
Shall not that New World greet him as the Christ-bearer^ 
Indeed, there must have been more than an accidental 
comodence when, half a century in advance of events the 
priest, m pouring the sacred waters of baptism, proclaimed 
the presence of one who was to be truly a Chnstopher- 
one who should carry Christ on the wings of a dove. 

CIRCULAR LETTER OF THE ARCHBISHOP OF NEW ORLEANS 

ON THE CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS CELEBRATION. 
From the Morning Star and Catholic Messenger, New Orleans, August 

13, 1892. 
Reverend AND Dear Father: The fourth centenary 
of the discovery of America by Christopher Columbus is at 
hand. It is an event of the greatest importance. It added 
a new continent to the world for civilization and Chris- 
tianity; ,t gave our citizens a home of liberty and free- 
dom a country of plenty and prosperity, a fatherland 
which has a right to our deepest and best feelings of 
attachment and affection. Christopher Columbus ^as a 
sincere and devout Catholic; his remarkable voyage was 
made possible by the intercession of a holy monk- and 
by the patronage and liberality of the pious Queen Isa- 
bella, the cross of Christ, the emblem of our holy relig- 
ion, was planted on America's virgin soil, and the Te 
Dann and the holy mass were the first religious services 
held on the same; it is therefore just and proper that this 



242 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

great event and festival should be celebrated in a religious 
as well as in a civil manner. 

Our Holy Father the Pope has appointed the 12th of 
October, and His Excellency the President of the United 
States has assigned the 21st of October, as the day of com- 
memoration. The discrepancy of dates is based on the 
difference of the two calendars. When Columbus discov- 
ered this country, the old Julian calendar was in vogue, and 
the date of discovery was marked the 12th; but Pope 
Gregory XIII. introduced the Gregorian calendar, accord- 
ing to which the 2ist would now be the date. We will 
avail ourselves of both dates — the first date to be of a relig- 
ious, the second of a civil, character. We therefore order 
that on the 12th of October a solemn votive mass [prografi- 
aruin actione dice /i do Missam votivam de S. S. Tritiitate), in 
honor of the Blessed Trinity, be sung in all the churches of 
the diocese, at an hour convenient to the parish, with an 
exhortation to the people, as thanksgiving to God for all 
his favors and blessings, and as a supplication to Him for 
the continuance of the same, and that all the citizens of 
this vast country may ever dwell in peace and union. 

Let the 21st be a public holiday. We desire that the 
children of our schools assemble in their Sunday clothes at 
their school-rooms or halls, and that after a few appropri- 
ate prayers some exercises be organized to commemorate 
the great event, and at the same time to fire their young 
hearts with love of country, and with love for the religion 
of the cross of Christ, which Columbus planted on the 
American shore. We further desire that the different 
Catholic organizations and societies arrange some pro- 
gramme by which the day may be spent in an agreeable 
and instructive manner. 

For our archiepiscopal city we make these special 
arrangements: On the 12th, at half-past 7 o'clock p. m., 



COLUMBUS. 243 

the cathedral will be open to the public; the clergy of the 
city is invited to assemble at 7 o'clock, at the archbish- 
opric, to march in procession to the cathedral, where short 
sermons of ten minutes each will be preached in five dif- 
ferent languages — Spanish, French, English, German, and 
Italian. The ceremony will close with Benediction of the 
Blessed Sacrament and the solemn singing of the Te Deum. 
In order to celebrate the civil solemnity of the 21st, we 
desire that a preliminary meeting be held at St. Alphonsus' 
Hall, on Monday evening, the 22d of August, at 8 o'clock. 
The meeting will be composed of the pastors of the city, 
of two members of each congregation — to be appointed by 
them — and of the presidents of the various Catholic socie- 
ties. This body shall arrange the plan how to celebrate 
the 21st of October. 

May God, who has been kind and merciful to our people 
in the past, continue his favors in the future and lead us 
unto life everlasting. 

The pastors will read this letter to their congregations. 

Given from our archiepiscopal residence, Feast of St, 
Dominic, August the 4th, 1892. 

f Francis Janssens, 
Archbishop of New Orleans. 
By order of His Grace: 

J. BoGAERTS, Vicar-general, 



THE COLUMBUS STATUE IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK 

Stands at the Eighth Avenue and Fifty-ninth Street 
entrance to Central Park, and was erected October 12, 
1892, by subscription among the Italian citizens of the 
United States, Canada, Mexico, and Central America. 
From a base forty-six feet square springs a beautiful shaft 
of great height, the severity of outline being broken by 
alternating lines of figures, in relief, of the prows, or rostra, 



244 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

of the three ships of Columbus, and medallions composed 
of an anchor and a coil of rope. In July, 1889, Chevalier 
Charles Barsotti, proprietor of the I' rogresso Italo- Americano, 
published in New York City, started a subscription to defray 
the cost, which was liberally added to by the Italian gov- 
ernment. On December 10, 1890, a number of models 
were placed on exhibition at the rooms of the Palace of 
the Exposition of Arts in Rome, and the commission finally 
chose that of Prof. Gaetano Russo. 

The monument is seventy-five feet high, including the 
three great blocks, or steps, which form the foundation; 
and, aside from the historical interest it may have, as a 
work of art alone its possession might well be envied by 
any city or nation. The base, of Baveno granite, has two 
beautiful bas-relief pictures in bronze, representing on one 
side the moment when Columbus first saw land, and on the 
other the actual landing of the party on the soil. Two 
inscriptions, higher up on the monument, one in English 
and one in Italian, contain the dedication. The column is 
also of Baveno granite, while the figure of the Genius of 
Geography and the statue proper of Columbus are of white 
Carrara marble, the former being ten feet high and the 
latter fourteen. There is also a bronze eagle, six feet high, 
on the side opposite the figure of Genius of Geography, 
holding in its claws the shields of the United States and of 
Genoa. The rostra and the inscription on the column are 
in bronze. 

This great work was designed by Prof. Gaetano Russo, 
who was born m Messina, Sicily, fifty-seven years ago. 
Craving opportunities for study and improvement, he made 
his way to Rome when a mere lad but ten years old. In 
this great art center his genius developed early, and his 
later years have been filled with success. Senator Monte- 
verde of Italy, one of the best sculptors of modern times, 



COLUMBUS. 245 

sayvS that this is one of the finest monuments made during 
the last twenty-five years. On accepting the finished 
monument from the artist, the commission tendered him 
the following: " The monument of Columbus made by 
you will keep great in America the name of Italian art. 
It is very pleasant to convey to the United States — a 
strong, free, and independent people^ — the venerated resem- 
blance of the man who made the civilization of America 
possible." 

On the sides of the base, between the massive posts which 
form the corners, are found the inscriptions in Italian and 
English, composed by Prof. Ugo Fleres of Rome, and being 
as follows: 

TO 

CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS, 

THE ITALIANS RESIDENT IN AMERICA. 



SCOFFED AT BEFORE; 

DURING THE VOYAGE, MENACED; 

AFTER IT, CHAINED; 

AS GENEROUS AS OPPRESSED, 

TO THE WORLD HE GAVE A WORLD. 



joy and glory 

never uttered a more thrilling call 

than that which resounded 

from the conquered ocean 

in sight of the first american island, 

land! land! 



ON THE XII. OF OCTOBER, MDCCCXCII 

THE FOURTH CENTENARY 

OF THE DISCOVERY OF AMERICA, 

IN IMPERISHABLE REMEMBRANCE. 



246 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

Near the base of the monument, on the front of the 
pedestal, is a representation of the Genius of Geography in 
white Carrara marble. It is a Httle over eleven feet high, 
and is represented as a winged angel bending over the 
globe, which it is intently studying while held beneath the 
open hand. 

On the front and back of the base the corresponding 
spaces are filled with two magnificent allegorical pictures 
in bas-relief representing the departure from Spain and 
the landing in America of Columbus. The latter one is 
particularly impressive, and the story is most graphically 
told by the strongly drawn group, of which he is the prin- 
cipal figure, standing in at attitude of prayer upon the 
soil of the New World he has just discovered. To the 
left are his sailors drawing the keel of a boat upon the 
sand, and on the right the Indians peep cautiously 
out from a thicket of maize at the strange creatures whom 
they mistake for the messengers of the Great Spirit. Tow- 
ering over all, at the apex of the column, stands the figure 
of the First Admiral himself, nobly portrayed in snowiest 
marble. The figure is fourteen feet in height and repre- 
sents the bold navigator wearing the dress of the period, 
the richly embroidered doublet, or waistcoat, thrown back, 
revealing a kilt that falls in easy folds from a bodice drawn 
tightly over the broad chest beneath. Not only the atti- 
tude of the figure but the expression of the face is com- 
manding, and as you look upon the clearly cut features 
you seem to feel instinctively the presence of the man of 
genius and power, which the artist has forcibly chiseled. 

The Italian government decided to send the monument 
here in the royal transport Garigliano. Also, as a token of 
their good-will to the United States, they ordered their 
first-class cruiser, Giovanni Bausan, to be in New York in 
time to take part in the ceremonies attending the unveiN 



COLUMBUS. 347 

ing and also the ceremonies by the city and State of New 
York. 

All the work on the foundation was directed gratuitously 
by the architect V. Del Genoese and Italian laborers. The 
materials were furnished free by Messrs. Crimmins, Navarro, 
Smith & Sons, and others. 

The executive committee in New York was composed 
of Chevalier C. Barsotti, president; C. A. Barattoni and E. 
Spinetti, vice-presidents; G. Starace, treasurer; E. Tealdi 
and G. N. Malferrari, secretaries; of the presidents of the 
Italian societies of New York, Brooklyn, Jersey City, and 
Hoboken; and of sixty-five members chosen from the sub- 
scribers as trustees. 



THE COLUMBUS MEMORIAL ARCH IN NEW YORK. 

Richard M. Hunt, John Lafarge, Augustus St. Gaudens, 
L. P. di Cesnola, and Robert J. Hoguet of the Sub-Com- 
mittee on Art of the New York Columbian Celebration, 
awarded on September i, 1892, the prizes offered for 
designs for an arch to be erected at the entrance to Cen- 
tral Park at Fifty-ninth Street and Fifth Avenue. 

The committee chose, from the numerous designs sub- 
mitted, four which were of special excellence. That which 
was unanimously acknowledged to be the best was sub- 
mitted with the identification mark, " Columbia," and 
proved to be the work of Henry B. Hertz of 22 West 
Forty-third Street. Mr. Hertz will receive a gold medal, 
and the arch which he has designed will be erected in tem- 
porary form for the Columbian celebration in October, 
1892, and will be constructed as a permanent monument of 
marble and bronze to the Genius of Discovery if $350,000 
can be secured to build it. The temporary structure is 
estimated to cost ^7,500, 



248 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

The design which the committee decided should receive 
the second prize was offered by Franklin Crosby Butler 
and Paul Emil Dubois of 80 Washington Square, East, and 
was entitled, "The Santa Maria." A silver medal will be 
given to the architects. The designs selected for hon- 
orable mention were one of Moorish character, submitted 
by Albert Wahle of 320 East Nineteenth Street, and 
one entitled "Liberty," by J. C. Beeckman of 160 Fifth 
Avenue. 

Mr. Hertz' design was selected by the committee not 
alone for its artistic beauty, but because of its peculiar fit- 
ness. The main body of the arch is to be built of white 
marble, and with its fountains, its polished monolithic col- 
umns of pigeon-blood marble, its mosaic and gold inlaying, 
and the bas-relief work and surmounting group of. bronze, 
the committee say it will be a monument to American 
architecture of which the city will be proud. 

From the ground to the top of the bronze caravel in the 
center of the allegorical group with which the arch will be 
surmounted the distance will be 160 feet, and the entire 
width of the arch will be 120 feet. The opening from the 
ground to the keystone will be eighty feet high and forty 
feet wide. On the front of each pier will be two columns 
of pigeon-blood-red marble. Between each pair of col- 
umns and at the base of each pier will be large marble 
fountains, the water .playing about figures representing 
Victory and Immortality. These fountains will be lighted 
at night with electric lights. The surface of the piers 
between the columns will be richly decorated in bas-relief 
with gold and mosaic. Above each fountain will be a panel, 
one representing Columbus at the court of Spain, and the 
other the great discoverer at the Convent of RAbida, just 
before his departure on the voyage which resulted in the 
discovery of America. In the spaces on either side of the 



COLUMBUS. 249 

crown of the arch will be colossal reclining figures of Vic- 
tory in bas-relief. 

The highly decorated frieze will be of polished red 
marble, and surmounting the projecting keystone of the 
arch will be a bronze representation of an American eagle. 
On the central panel of the attic will be the inscription: 
"The United States of America, in Memorial Glorious to 
Christopher Columbus, Discoverer of America." The 
ornamentation of the attic consists of representations of 
Columbus' entrance into Madrid. Crowning all is to be a 
group in bronze symbolical of Discovery. In this group 
there will be twelve figures of heroic size, with a gigantic 
figure representing the Genius of Discovery heralding to 
the world the achievements of her children. 

Mr. Hertz, the designer, is only twenty-one years old, 
and is a student in the department of architecture of 
Columbia College. 



THE SPANISH FOUNTAIN IN NEW YORK. 

The Spanish-American citizens also wish to present a 
monument to the city in honor of the discovery. It is pro- 
posed to have a Columbus fountain, to be located on the 
Grand Central Park plaza, at Fifth Avenue and Fifty-ninth 
Street, in the near future. The statuary group of the fount- 
ain represents Columbus standing on an immense globe, 
and on either side of him is one of the Pinzon brothers, 
who commanded the Pinta and Nina. Land has been dis- 
covered, and on the face of Columbus is an expression of 
prayerful thanksgiving. The brother Pinzon who discov- 
ered the land is pointing to it, while the other, with hand 
shading his eyes, anxiously seeks some sign of the new 
continent. 

It is proposed to cast the statuary group in New York 
of cannon donated by Spain and Spanish-American coun- 



250 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

■tries. The first of the cannon has already arrived, the gift 
of the republic of Spanish Honduras. 
The proposed inscription reads: 

A 

COLON 

y Los 

PINZONES 

Los Espanolcs 

E Hispano-A inericanos 

De 

Nueva York. 

To Columbus and the Pinzons, the Spaniards 

and Spanish-Americans of New York. 



FESTIVAL ALLEGORY FOR THE NEW YORK CELEBRATION OF 

THE 4OOTH ANNIVERSARY OF COLUMBUS' 

DISCOVERY, 1892. 

One of the features of the New York celebration of 
the Columbus Quadro-Centennial is to be the production, 
October loth, in the Metropolitan Opera House, of "The 
Triumph of Columbus," a festival allegory, by S. G. Pratt. 

The work is written for orchestra, chorus, and solo voices, 
and is in six scenes or parts, the first of which is described 
as being " in the nature of a prologue, wherein a dream of 
Columbus is pictured. Evil spirits and sirens hover about 
the sleeping mariner threatening and taunting him. The 
Spirit of Light appears, the tormentors vanish, and a 
chorus of angels join the Spirit of Light in a song of 
' Hope and Faith.' " 

Part IL shows "the historical council at Salamanca; 
Dominican monks support Columbus, but Cardinal Talavera 
and other priests ridicule him." Columbus, to disprove 
their accusations of heresy on his part, quotes "sentence 
after sentence of the Bible in defense of his theory." 

Part HI, represents Columbus and his boy Diego in 



COLUMBUS. 351 

poverty before the Convent La Rftbida. They pray for 
aid, and are succored by Father Juan Perez and his monks. 

Part IV. contains a Spanish dance by the courtiers and 
ladies of Queen Isabella's court; a song by the Queen, 
wherein she tells of her admiration for Columbus; the ap- 
pearance of Father Juan, who pleads for the navigator and his 
cause; the discouraging arguments of Talavera; the hesita- 
tion of the Queen; her final decision to help Columbus in his 
undertaking, and her prayer for the success of the voyage. 

Part V. is devoted to the voyage. Mr. Pratt has here 
endeavored to picture in a symphonic prelude "the peace- 
ful progress upon the waters, the jubilant feeling of Colum- 
bus, and a flight of birds" — subjects dissimilar enough 
certainly to lend variety to any orchestral composition. 
The part, in addition to this prelude, contains the recitation 
by a sailor of " The Legend of St. Brandon's Isle"; a song 
by Columbus; the mutiny of the sailors, and Columbus' 
vain attempts to quell it; his appeal to Christ and the holy 
cross for aid, following which "the miraculous appearance 
takes place and the sailors are awed into submission "; the 
chanting of evening vespers; the firing of the signal gun 
which announces the discovery of land, and the singing of 
a Gloria in Excelsis by Columbus, the sailors, and a 
chorus of angels. 

Part VI. is the "grand pageantry of Columbus' recep- 
tion at Barcelona. A triumphal march by chorus, band, 
and orchestra forms an accompaniment to a procession and 
the final reception." 



STRANGE AND COLOSSAL MAN. 

From an introduction to "The Storj' of Columbus," in the New York 
Herald, 1892. 

What manner of man was this Columbus, this admiral of 
the seas and lord of the Indies, who gave to Castille and 
Leon a new world? 



352 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

Was lie the ill-tempered and crack-brained adventurer of 
the skeptic biographer, who weighed all men by the sum of 
ages and not by the age in which they lived, or the religious 
hero who carried a flaming cross into the darkness of the un- 
known West, a? his reverential historians have painted him? 

There have been over six hundred biographers of this 
strange and colossal man, advancing all degrees of criti- 
cism, from filial affection to religious and fanatical hate, 
yet those who dwell in the lands he discovered know him 
only by his achievements, caring nothing about the trivial 
weaknesses of his private life. 

One of his fairest critics has said he was the conspic- 
uous developer of a great world movement, the embodiment 
of the ripened aspirations of his time. 

His life is enveloped in an almost impenetrable veil of 
obscurity; in fact, the date and the place of his birth are in 
dispute. There are no authentic portraits of him, though 
hundreds have been printed. 

There are in existence many documents written by 
Columbus about his discoveries. When he set sail on his 
first voyage he endeavored to keep a log similar to the 
commentaries of Caesar. It is from this log that much of 
our present knowledge has been obtained, but it is a lament- 
able fact that, while Columbus was an extraordinary execu- 
tive officer, his administrative ability was particularly poor, 
and in all matters of detail he was so careless as to be 
untrustworthy. Therefore, there are many statements in 
the log open to violent controversy. 

TALES OF THE EAST. 

It is probable that the letters of Toscanelli made a 
greater impression on the mind of Columbus than any other 
information he possessed. The aged Florentine enter- 
tained the brightest vision of the marvelous worth of the 
Asiatic region. He spoke of two hundred towns whose 



COLUMBUS. 253 

bridges spanned a single river, and whose commerce would 
excite the cupidity of the world. 

These were tales to stir circles of listeners wherever wan- 
dering mongers of caravels came and went. All sorts of 
visionary discoveries were made in those days. Islands 
were placed in the Atlantic that never existed, and wonder- 
ful tales were told of the great Island of Antilla, or the 
Seven Cities. 

The sphericity of the earth was becoming a favorite 
belief, though it must be borne in mind that education in 
those days was confined to the cloister, and any departure 
from old founded tenets was regarded as heresy. It was 
this peculiar doctrine that caused Columbus much embar- 
rassment in subsequent years. His greatest enemies were 
the narrow minds that regarded religion as the Ultima Thule 
of intellectual endeavor. In spite of these facts, however, 
it was becoming more and more the popular belief that the 
world was not fiat. One of the arguments used against 
Columbus was, that if the earth was not fiat, and was 
round, he might sail down to the Indies, but he could cer- 
tainly not sail up. Thus it was that fallacy after fallacy 
was thrown in argumentative form in his way, and the char- 
acter of the man grows more wonderful as we see the obsta- 
cles over which he fought. 

From utter obscurity, from poverty, derision, and treach- 
ery, this unflinching spirit fought his way to a most coura- 
geous end, and in all the vicissitudes of his wonderful life 
he never compromised one iota of that dignity which he 
regarded as consonant with his lofty aspirations. — Ibid. 



A PROTEST AGAINST IGNORANCE. 
New York Tribune, 1892. 

The voyage of Columbus was a protest against the ignor- 
ance of the mediaeval age. The discovery of the New 



254 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

World was the first sign of the real renaissance of the Old 
World. It created new heavens and a new earth, broadened 
immeasurably the horizon of men and nations, and trans- 
formed the whole order of European thought. Columbus 
was the greatest educator who ever lived, for he emanci- 
pated mankind from the narrowness of its own ignorance, 
and taught the great lesson that human destiny, like divine 
mercy, arches over the whole world. If a perspective of 
four centuries of progress could have floated like a mirage 
before the eyes of the great discoverer as he was sighting 
San Salvador, the American school-house would have 
loomed up as the greatest institution of the New World's 
future. Behind him he had left mediaeval ignorance, encum- 
bered with superstition, and paralyzed by an ecclesiastical 
pedantry which passed for learning. Before him lay a new 
world with the promise of the potency of civil and religious 
liberty, free education, and popular enlightenment. Because 
the school-house, like his own voyage, has been a protest 
against popular ignorance, and has done more than 
anything else to make our free America what it is, it would 
have towered above everything else in the mirage-like 
vision of the world's progress. 



THE EARTH S ROTUNDITY. 

The Rev. Father Nugent of Iowa. From an address printed in the 
Denver Republican, 1892. 

The theory of the rotundity of the earth was not born 
with Columbus. It had been announced centuries before 
Christ, but tlie law of gravitation had not been discovered 
and the world found it impossible to think of another hem- 
isphere in which trees would grow downward into the air 
and men walk with their heads suspended from their feet. 
The theologians and scholars who scoffed at Columbus' 
theory had better grounds for opposing him, according to 



COLUMBUS. 255 

the received knowledge of the time, than he for upholding 
his ideal. They were scientifically wrong and he was 
unscientifically correct. 



HANDS ACROSS THE SEA. 
The President responds to a message from the Alcalde of Palos, 
The following cable messages were exchanged this day: 
La Rabida, August 3d. The President: To-day, 400 years 
ago, Columbus sailed from Palos, discovering America. 
The United States flag is being hoisted this moment in 
front of the Convent La Rabida, along with banners of all 
the American States. Batteries and ships saluting, accom- 
panied by enthusiastic acclamations of the people, army, 
and navy. God bless America. 

Prieto, 
Alcalde of Palos. 
Department of State, Washington, D. C, August 3, 
1892. Senor Prieto, Alcalde de Palos, La Rabida, Spain: 
The President of the United States directs me to cordially 
acknowledge your message of greeting. On this memorable 
day, thus fittingly celebrated, the people of the new west- 
ern world, in grateful reverence to the name and fame of 
Columbus, join hands with the sons of the brave sailors of 
Palos and Huelva who manned the discoverer's caravels. 

Foster, 

Secretary of State. 



THE PAN-AMERICAN TRIBUTE. 

The nations of North, South, and Central America in conference assem- 
bled, at Washington, D. C, from October 2, 1SS9, to April 19, 
1890. 
Resolved, That in homage to the memory of the immor- 
tal discoverer of America, and in gratitude for the unpar- 
alleled service rendered by him to civilization and human- 
ity, the International Conference hereby offers its hearty 



256 COLUMBUS AND COLUINIBIA. 

co-operation in the manifestations to be made in his honor 
on tlie occasion of the fourth centennial anniversary of the 
discovery of America.^** 



THE GIFT OF SPAIN. 

Theodore Parker, a distinguished American clergyman and scholar. 
Born at Lexington, Mass., August 24, 1810; died in Florence, 
Italy, May 10, i860. From "New Assault upon Freedom in 
America." 

To Columbus, adventurous Italy's most venturous son, 
Spain gave, grudgingly, three miserable ships, wherewith 
that daring genius sailed through the classic and mediaeval 
darkness which covered the great Atlantic deep, opening 
to mankind a new world, and new destination therein. No 
queen ever wore a diadem so precious as those pearls 
which Isabella dropped into the western sea, a bridal gift, 
whereby the Old World, well endowed with art and science, 
and the hoarded wealth of experience, wed America, rich 
only in her gifts from Nature and her hopes in time. The 
most valuable contribution Spain has made to mankind is 
three scant ships furnished to the Genoese navigator, whom 
the world's instinct pushed westward in quest of con- 
tinents. 



COLUMBUS THE BOLDEST NAVIGATOR. 

Capt. William H. Parker, an American naval officer of the nine- 
teenth century. From " Familiar Talks on Astronomy." 

Let US turn our attention to Christopher Columbus, the 
boldest navigator of his day; indeed, according to my view, 
the boldest man of whom we have any account in history. 

^* It was also resolved to establish in the city of Washington a Latin- 
American Memoiial Library, wherein should be collected all the histor- 
ical, geographical, and literary works, maps, and manuscripts, and 
official documents relating to the history and civilization of America. 
such library to he solemnly dedicated on the dav on i^'hich the United 
States celebrates the fourth centennial of the discovery of America. 




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COLUMBUS. 257 

While all the other seamen of the known world were creep- 
ing along the shore, he heroically sailed forth on the broad 
ocean. * * * 

When I look back upon my own voyages and recall the 
many anxious moments I have passed when looking for a 
port at night, and when I compare my own situation, sup- 
plied with accurate charts, perfect instruments, good sailing 
directions, everything, in short, that science can supply, and 
then think of Columbus in his little bark, his only instru- 
ments an imperfect compass and a rude astrolabe, sailing 
forth upon an imknoiun sea, I must award to him the credit 
of being the boldest seaman that ever " sailed the salt 
ocean." 

Columbus, then, had made three discoveries before he 
discovered land — the trade-winds, the Sargasso Sea, and 
the variation of the compass. 



COLUMBUS THE PATRON SAINT OF REAL-ESTATE DEALERS. 

At a banquet in Chicago of the real-estate brokers, a 
waggish orator remarked that Columbus, with his cry of 
"Land! Land!" was clearly the patron saint of American 
real-estate dealers. 



THE MUTINY. 
Horatio J. Perry, an American author. From "Reminiscences." 
When those Spanish mutineers leaped upon their 
Admiral's deck and advanced upon him sword in hand, 
every man of them was aware that according to all ordi- 
nary rules the safety of his own head depended on their 
going clean through and finishing their work. No com- 
promise that should leave Columbus alive could possibly 
have suited them then. Nevertheless, at the bottom of it 
all, the moving impulse of those men was terror. They 
17 



258 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

were banded for that work by a common fear and a com- 
mon superstition, and it was only when they looked in 
the clear face of one wholly free from the influences which 
enslaved themselves, when they felt in their marrow that 
supreme expression of Columbus at the point of a miserable 
death — only then the revulsion of confidence in him suddenly 
relieved their own terrors. It was instinctive. This man 
knows! He does not deceive us! We fools are compromising 
the safety of all by quenching this light. He alone can get 
us through this business — that was the human instinct which 
responded to the look and bearing of Columbus at the 
moment when he was wholly lost, and when his life's work, 
his great voyage almost accomplished, was also to all 
appearance lost. The instinct was sure, the response was 
certain, from the instinct that its motive was also there sure 
and certain; but no other man in that age could have pro- 
voked it, no other but Columbus could be sure of what he 
was then doing. 

The mutineers went back to their work, and the ships 
went on. For three days previous, the Admiral, following 
some indications he had noted from the flight of birds, had 
steered southwest. Through that night of the loth and 
through the day of the nth he still kept that course; but 
just at evening of the nth he ordered the helm again to 
be put due west. The squadron had made eighty-two 
miles that day, and his practiced senses now taught him 
that land was indeed near. Without any hesitation he 
called together his chief officers, and announced to them 
that the end of their voyage was at hand; and he ordered 
the ships to sail well together, and to keep a sharp lookout 
through the night, as he expected land before the morning. 
Also, they had strict orders to shorten sail at midnight, and 
not to advance beyond half speed. Then he promised a 
velvet doublet of his own as a present to the man who 



II 



COLUMBUS. 259 

should first make out the land. These details are well 
known, and they are authentic; and it is true also that 
these dispositions of the Admiral spread life throughout the 
squadron. Nobody slept that night. It was only twenty- 
four hours since they were ready to throw him overboard; 
but they now believed in him and bitterly accused one 
another. 



THE TRACK OF COLUMBUS. 

From a paper in Nezu England Magazine^ i8g2, taken originally from a 
volume of "Reminiscences" left by Horatio J. Perry, who 
made a voyage from Spain to New Orleans in 1847. 

A fortnight out at sea! We are upon the track of Chris- 
topher Columbus. Only three centuries and a half ago the 
keels of his caravels plowed for the first time these very 
waters, bearing the greatest heart and wisest head of his 
time, and one of the grandest figures in all history. 

To conceive Columbus at his true value requires some 
effort in our age, when the earth has been girdled and 
measured, when the sun has been weighed and the planets 
brought into the relation of neighbors over the way, into 
whose windows we are constantly peeping in spite of 
the social gulf which keeps us from visiting either Mars 
or Venus. It is not easy to put ourselves back into the 
fifteenth century and limit ourselves as those men were 
limited. 

I found it an aid to my comprehension of Columbus, this 
chance which sent me sailing over the very route of his 
great voyage. It is not, even now, a frequented route. 
The bold Spanish and Portuguese navigators of the fifteenth 
and sixteenth centuries are no longer found upon it. The 
trade of the Indies has passed into other hands, and this is 
not the road from England to the West Indies or to 
America. 



260 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA, 

Thus you may still sail for weeks in these seas without 
ever meeting a ship. Leaving Madeira or the Canaries, 
you may even reach those western lands he reached without 
having seen or felt any other sign or incident except pre- 
cisely such as were noted by him. 



DEATH WAS COLUMBUS FRIEND. 

OsKAR Ferdinand Pksciiei., a noted German geographer. Born at 
Dresden, March 17, 1826; died, August 31, 1875. 

Death saved Columbus the infliction of a blow which he 
probably would have felt more than Bobadilla's fetters. 
He was allow-ed to carry to the grave the glorious illusion 
that Cuba was a province of the Chinese Empire, that His- 
paniola was the Island Zipangu, and that only a narrow strip 
of land, instead of a hemisphere covered by water, inter- 
vened between the Caribbean Sea and the Bay of Bengal. 

The discoverer of America died without suspecting that 
he had found a new continent. He regarded the distance 
between Spain and Jamaica as a third part of the circum- 
ference of the globe, and announced, '' The earth is by no 
means as large as is popularly supposed." 

The extension of the world by a new continent had no 
place in his conceptions, and the greatness of his achieve- 
ment would have been lessened in his eyes if he had been 
permitted to discover a second vast ocean beyond that which 
he had traversed, for he would have seen that he had but 
half accomplished his object, the connection of Europe with 
the East. 



PETRARCH S TRIIiUTE. 

Francesco Petrarch, Italian poet. Born at Arezzo, in Tuscany, 
July 20, 1304; died at Arquu, near Padua, July 19, 1374. 

The daylight hastening with winged steps, 
Perchance to gladden the expectant eyes 
Of far-off nations in a world remote. 



COLUMBUS. 261 

COLUMBUS A VOLUMINOUS WRITER. 
Barnet Phillips, in Harpeys Weekly, June 25, 1892, on "The 
Columbus P^estivalat Genoa." 
It can not be questioned but that Christopher Columbus 
was a voluminous writer. Mr. John Winsor, who has made 
careful researches, says that " ninety-seven distinct pieces of 
writing by the hand of Columbus either exist or are known 
to have existed. Of such, wliether memoirs, relations, or 
letters, sixty-four are preserved in their entirety." Colum- 
bus seems to have written all his letters in Spanish. Genoa 
is fortunate in possessing a number of authentic letters, 
and these are preserved in a marble custodia, surmounted 
by a head of Columbus. In the pillar which forms the 
pedestal there is a bronze door, and the precious Colum- 
bus documents have been placed there. 

HIS LIFE WAS A PATH OF THORNS. 
Robert Pollok, a Scottish poet of some note. Born at Muirhouse, 
Renfrewshire, 1798; died near Southampton, September, 1827. 
Oh, who can tell what days, what nights, he spent, 
Of tideles.s, waveless, sailless, shoreless woe! 
And who can tell how many glorious once 
To him, of brilliant promise full— wasted. 
And pined, and vanished from the earth! 

UNWEPT, UNHONORED, AND UNSUNG. 
W. F. PooLE, LI. D.. Librarian of the Newberry Library, Chicago. 
From "Christopher Columbus," published in the Z'/a/ for April, 
1892. Published by A. C. McClurg & Co. 

It had been well for the reputation of Columbus if he 
had died in 1493, when he returned from his first voyage. 
He had found a pathway to a land beyond the western 
ocean; and although he had no conception of what he had 
discovered, it was the most important event in the history 



262 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

of the fifteenth century. There was nothing left for him to 
do to increase his renown. A coat-of-arms had been 
assigned him, and he rode on horseback through the streets 
of Barcelona, with the King on one side of him and Prince 
Juan on the other. His enormous claims for honors and 
emoluments had been granted. His first letter of Febru- 
ary, 1493, printed in several languages, had been read in 
the courts of Europe with wonder and amazement. " What 
delicious food for an ingenious mind!" wrote Peter Martyr. 
In England, it was termed '"a thing more divine than 
human." No other man ever rose to such a pinnacle of 
fame so suddenly; and no other man from such a height 
ever dropped out of sight so quickly. His three later voy- 
ages were miserable failures; a pitiful record of misfortunes, 
blunders, cruelties, moral delinquencies, quarrels, and 
impotent complainings. They added nothing to the fund 
of human knowledge, or to his own. On the fourth voyage 
he was groping about to find the River Ganges, the great 
Khan of China, and the earthly paradise. His two subse- 
quent years of disappointment and sickness and poverty 
were wretchedness personified. Other and more compe- 
tent men took up the work of discovery, and in thirteen 
years after the finding of a western route to India had 
been announced, the name and personality of Columbus 
had almost passed from the memory of men. He died at 
Valladolid, May 20, 1506; and outside of a small circle of 
relatives, his body was committed to the earth with as little 
notice and ceremony as that of an unknown beggar on its 
way to the potter's field. Yet the Spanish court was in the 
town at the time. Peter Martyr was there, writing long 
letters of news and gossip; and in five that are still extant 
there is no mention of the sickness and death of Columbus. 
Four weeks later an official document had the brief men- 
tion that "the Admiral is dead." Two Italian authors, 



COLUMBUS. 363 

making, one and two years later, some corrections pertain- 
ing to his early voyages, had not heard of his death. 



NEW STAMPS FOR WORLD S FAIR YEAR. 
From the New York Commercial Advertiser. 

Third Assistant Postmaster-General Hazen is preparing 
the designs for a set of " Jubilee" stamps, to be issued by 
the Postofifice Department in honor of the quadri-centennial. 
That is, he is getting together material which will suggest 
to him the most appropriate subjects to be illustrated on 
these stamps. He has called on the Bureau of American 
Republics for some of the Columbian pictures with which 
it is overflowing, and he recently took a big portfolio of 
them down into the country to examine at his leisure. 

One of the scenes to be illustrated, undoubtedly, will be 
the landing of Columbus. The Convent of La Rabida, 
where Columbus is supposed to have been housed just 
before his departure from Spain on his voyage of discovery, 
will probably be the chief figure of another. The head 
of Columbus will decorate one of the stamps — probably 
the popular 2-cent stamp. Gen. Hazen resents the sug- 
gestion that the 5 -cent, or foreign, stamp be made the 
most ornate in the collection. He thinks that the Ameri- 
can public is entitled to the exclusive enjoyment of the 
most beautiful of the new stamps. 

Besides, the stamps will be of chief value to the Expo- 
sition, as they advertise it among the people of America. 
The Jubilee stamps will be one of the best advertisements 
the World's Fair will have. It would not be unfair if the 
Postofifice Department should demand that the managers 
of the World's Fair pay the additional expense of getting 
out the new issue. But the stamp collectors will save the 
department the necessity of doing that. 



264 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

It may be that the issue of the current stamps will not 
be suspended when the Jubilee stamps come in; but it is 
altogether likely that the issue will be suspended for a 
year, and that at the end of that time the dies and plates 
for the Jubilee stamps will be destroyed and the old dies and 
plates will be brought out and delivered to the contractor 
again. These dies and plates are always subject to the 
order of the Postmaster-general. He can call for them at 
any time, and the contractor must deliver them into his 
charge. 

While they are in use they are under the constant super- 
vision of a government agent, and the contractor is held 
responsible for any plate that might be made from his dies 
and for any stamps that might be printed surreptitiously 
from such plates. 

An odd.ty in the new series will be the absence of the 
faces of Washington and Franklin. The first stamps 
issued by the Postoffice Department were the 5 and 10 cent 
stamps of 1847. One of these bore the head of Washing- 
ton and the other that of Franklin. From that day to this 
these heads have appeared on some two of the stamps of 
the United States. In the Jubilee issue they will be miss- 
ing, unless Mr. Wanamaker or Mr. Hazen changes the 
present plan. It is intended now that only one portrait 
shall appear on any of the stamps, and that one will be of 
Columbus. 

It will take some time to prepare the designs for the 
new stamps, after the selection of the subjects, but Gen. 
Hazen expects to have them on sale the ist of January 
next. The subjects will be sent to the American Bank 
Note Company, which will prepare the designs and submit 
them for approval. When they are approved, the dies 
will be prepared and proofs sent to the department. Five 
engravings were made before an acceptable portrait of Gen. 



COLUMKUS. 265 

Grant was obtained for use on the current 5-cent stamp. 
Gen. Grant, by the wa}-, was the only hving American 
whose portrait during his Ufetime was under consideration 
in getting up stamp designs. 



THE CHARACTER OF COLUMBUS. 

William Hickling Prescott, an eminent American historian. Born 
at Salem, Mass., May 4, 1796; died January 2S, 1859. From 
" Ferdinand and Isabella." 

There are some men in whom rare virtues have been 
closely allied, if not to positive vice, to degrading weakness. 
Columbus' character presented no such humiliating incon- 
gruity. Whether we contemplate it in its public or private 
relations, in all its features it wears the same noble aspect. 
It was in perfect harmony with the grandeur of his plans 
and their results, more stupendous than those which heaven 
has permitted any other mortal to achieve. 



FROM PALOS TO BARCELONA HIS TRIUMPH. 

The bells sent forth a joyous peal in honor of his arrival; 
but the Admiral was too desirous of presenting himself 
before the sovereigns to protract his stay long at Palos. 
His progress through Seville was an ovation. It was the 
middle of April before Columbus reached Barcelona. The 
nobility and cavaliers in attendance on the court, 
together with the authorities of the city, came to the gates 
to receive him, and escorted him to the royal presence. 
Ferdinand and Isabella were seated with their son. Prince 
John, under a superb canopy of state, awaiting his arrival. 
On his approach they rose from their seats, and, extend- 
ing their hands to him to salute, caused him to be seated 
before them. These were unprecedented marks of conde- 
scension to a person of Columbus' rank in the haughty and 
ceremonious court of Castille. It was, indeed, the proudest 



266 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

moment in the life of Columbus. He had fully estab- 
lished the truth of his long-contested theory, in the face 
of argument, sophistry, sneer, skepticism, and contempt. 
After a brief interval the sovereigns requested from 
Columbus a recital of his adventures; and when he had 
done so, the King and Queen, together with all present, 
prostrated themselves on their knees in grateful thanksgiv- 
ings, while the solemn strains of the Te Deum were poured 
forth by the choir of the royal chapel, as in commemoration 
of some glorious victory. — Ibid. 



THE CLAIM OF THE NORSEMEN. 

From an editorial in Public Opinion, Washington. 

Modern historians are pretty generally agreed that 
America was actually first made known to the Eastern 
world by the indefatigable Norsemen. Yet, in spite of this 
fact, Columbus has been, and still continues to be, revered 
as the one man to whose genius and courage the discovery 
of the New World is due. Miss Brown, in her " Ice- 
landic Discoverers," justly says it should be altogether 
foreign to American institutions and ideas of liberty and 
honor to countenance longer the worship of a false idol. 
The author first proceeds to set forth the evidence upon 
which the claitns of the Norsemen rest. The author 
charges that the heads of the Roman Catholic church 
were early cognizant of this discovery of the Norsemen, 
but that they suppressed this information. The motives 
for this concealment are charged to their well-known 
reluctance to allow any credit to non-Catholic believers, 
under which head, at that time, the Norsemen were 
included. They preferred that the New World should first 
be made known to Southern Europe by adherents to the 
Roman Catholic faith. Most damaging evidence against 



COLUMBUS. 267 

Columbus' having originated, unaided, the idea of a 
western world or route to India is furnished by the fact 
that he visited Iceland in person in the spring of 1477, 
when he must have heard rumors of the early voyages. 
He is known to have visited the harbor at Hvalfjord, on 
the south coast of Iceland, at a time when that harbor was 
most frequented, and also at the same time when 
Bishop Magnus is known to have been there. They must 
have met, and, as they had means of communicating 
through the Latin language, would naturally have spoken 
of these distant countries. We have no hint of the object 
of this visit of Columbus, for he scrupulously avoids sub- 
sequent mention of it; but the author pleases to consider' 
it as a secret mission, instigated by the Church for the pur- 
pose of obtaining all available information concerning the 
Norse discoveries. Certain it is that soon after his return 
to Spain we find him petitioning the King and Queen for 
a grant of ships and men to further the enterprise; and he 
was willing to wait for more than fourteen years before he 
obtained them. His extravagant demands of the King and 
Queen concerning the rights, titles, and percentage of all 
derived from the countries " he was about to discover," can 
hardly be viewed in any other light than that of positive 
knowledge concerning their existence. 



PULCI S PROPHECY. 

LuiGi PuLCi, an Italian poet. Born at Florence in 1431; died about 

1487. 
Men shall descry another hemisphere. 
Since to one common center all things tend; 
So earth, by curious mystery divine. 
Well balanced hangs amid the starry spheres. 
At our antipodes are cities, states. 
And thronged empires ne'er divined of yore. 



268 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

CHRISTOPHER, THE CHRIST-BEARER. 

George Payne Quackenbos, an American teacher and educational 
writer. Born in New York, 1826; died December 24, 1881. 

Full of religious enthusiasm, he regarded this voyage to 
the western seas as his peculiar mission, and himself — 
as his name, Christopher, imports — the appointed Christ- 
bearer, or gospel-bearer, to the natives of the new lands 
he felt that he was destined to discover. 



COLUMBUS DAY. 

The 12th of October next well deserves general 
observance by the people of the United States. It should 
be made a national holiday, as marking the 400th birthday 
of our country; for, taking everything into consideration that 
bears upon the discovery of America, we may as well begin 
our reckoning from the Columbus advent to these shores in 
1492. 

It is a matter of satisfaction that the observance of 
"Columbus Day," as proposed, will tend to bring out to 
clearer light the character and career of the great discov- 
erer. We shall have in mind his strong individuality, his 
faith, energy, and steadfastness of purpose, while all the 
more wonderful will his undertaking appear as we bring 
into the foreground the conditions and limitations which 
were about him 400 years ago, when he sailed forth on 
unknown seas. 



PLEADING WITH KINGS FOR A NEW WORLD. 

The Rev. jNIyron Reed, a celebrated American clergyman of the pres- 
ent day. 

Here is Columbus. Somehow I think he is more of a 
man while he is begging for ships and a crew, when he is 
in mid-ocean sailing to discover America, than when he 
found it. 



COLUMBUS. 369 

LAST DAYS OF THE VOYAGE. 

The last days of the voyage of Columbus were lonesome 
days. He had to depend on his own vision. I do not 
know what he had been — probably a buccaneer. We know 
that he was to be a trader in slaves. But in spite of what 
he had been and was to become, once he was great. — Ibid. 



COLUMBUS DAY. 
The Rhode Island World's Fair Bulletin. 

This is a significant date. It marks the 400th birthday 
of our country. It is an anniversary deserving of com- 
memoration for many reasons. Especially does it assume 
importance in connection with the World's Fair, to be held 
in Chicago next year, and for which such extensive prepa- 
rations are now going forward. 

"Discovery Day," October 21, 1892, will have recogni- 
tion in an official and impressive manner by appropriate 
services in the city where the Exposition is to be held. 
The dedication of the Government buildings, the formal 
inauguration of the grand enterprise now awakening so 
much attention throughout the civilized world, will take 
place on that suggestive anniversary. 

The anniversary claims a more general observance, 
however, and we are glad to note the movement to cele- 
brate the day by the public schools throughout the land. 
Such a plan, originally proposed by the ^^'orld's Congress 
Auxiliary Committee, has been commended by the National 
Convention of Superintendents of Education, and by lead- 
ing educators, and a special committee has been appointed 
to arrange for a " National Columbian Public School Cele- 
bration " on the date named. This committee will prepare 
programmes adapted to the use of schools of all grades, 
indicating appropriate songs, recitations, etc., thus provid- 



370 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

ing that the children and youth of the land may observe 
this day in like manner to a considerable extent. 

Of course it will depend on the local feeling and interest 
how much is done. School committees, teachers, parents, 
can lend a hand to the movement and make it grandly suc- 
cessful according to its possibilities. Rightly observed, 
the 2 1 St of next October may be made to strike the key- 
note of the Exposition, while it shall broaden and deepen 
historical and patriotic incentives in the minds of the 
youth of the republic. 



COLUMBUS A THEORETICAL CIRCUMNAVIGATOR. 

John Clark Ridpath, LL. D., an American author and educator. 
Born in Putnam County, Indiana, April 26, 1840. From " His- 
tory of United States," 1S74. 

Sir John Mandeville had declared in the very first 
English book that ever was written (A. I). 1356) that the 
world is a sphere, and that it was both possible and practi- 
cable for a man to sail around the world and return to the 
place of starting; but neither Sir John himself nor any 
other seaman of his times was bold enough to undertake so 
hazardous an enterprise. Columbus was, no doubt, the 
first practical believer in the theory of circumnavigation, 
and although he never sailed around the world himself, he 
demonstrated the possibility of doing so. 

The great mistake with Columbus and others who shared 
his opinions was not concerning the figure of the earth, but 
in regard to its size. He believed the world to be no more 
than 10,000 or 12,000 miles in circumference. He there- 
fore confidently expected tliat after sailing about 3.000 
miles to the westward he should arrive at the East Indies, 
and to do that was the one great purpose of his life. 



C0LUMPU5. 87X 

AN IMPORTANT FIND OF MSS. 

Juan F. Riano. " Review of Continental Literature," July, 1891, to 
July, 1S92. From " The Athenaiiin " (England), July 2, 1892. 

The excitement about Columbus has rather been height- 
ened by the accidental discovery of three large holograph 
volumes, in quarto, of Fr. Bartolome de Las Casas, the 
Bishop of Chiapa, who, as is well known, accompanied the 
navigator in his fourth voyage to the West Indies. The 
volumes were deposited by Las Casas in San Gregorio de 
Valladolid, where he passed the last years of his life in 
retirement. There they remained until 1836, when, owing 
to the suppression of the monastic orders, the books of the 
convent were dispersed, and the volumes of the Apostle of 
the Indies, as he is still called, fell into the hands of a col- 
lector of the name of Acosta, from whom a grandson 
named Arcos inherited them. Though written in the 
bishop's own hand, they are not of great value, as they 
only contain his well-known " Historia Apologetica de las 
Indias," of which no fewer than three different copies, 
dating from the sixteenth century, are to be found here at 
Madrid, and the whole was published some years ago in 
the "Documentos In^ditos para la Historia de Espafia." 

The enthusiasm for Columbus and his companions has 
not in the least damped the ardor of my countrymen for 
every sort of information respecting their former colonies 
in America or their possessions in the Indian Archipelago 
and on the northern coast of Africa. Respecting the 
former I may mention the second volume of the " Historia 
del Nuevo Mundo," by Cobo, 1645; the third and fourth 
volume of the " Origen de los Indios del Peru, Mexico, 
Santa Fe y Chile," by Diego Andres Rocha; " De las Gen- 
tes del Peru," forming part of the " Historia Apologetica," 
by Bartolome de las Casas, though not found in his three 
holograph volumes recently discovered. 



272 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

CHILDREN OF THE SUN. 

William Robertson (usually styled Principal Robertson), a celebrated 
Scottish historian. Born at Bosthwick, Mid-Lothian, September 
19, 1721; died June, 1793. 

Columbus was the first European who set foot in the 
New World which he had discovered. He landed in a rich 
dress, and with a naked sword in his hand. His men fol- 
lowed, and, kneeling down, they all kissed the ground 
which they had long desired to see. They next erected a 
crucifix, and prostrating themselves before it returned 
thanks to God for conducting their voyage to such a happy 
issue. 

The Spaniards while thus employed were surrounded by 
many of the natives, who gazed in silent admiration upon 
actions which they could not comprehend, and of which 
they could not foresee the consequences. The dress of the 
Spaniards, the whiteness of their skins, their beards, their 
arms, appeared strange and surprising. The vast machines 
in which the Spaniards had traversed the ocean, that 
seemed to move upon the water with wings, and uttered a 
dreadful sound, resembling thunder, accompanied with 
lightning and smoke, struck the natives with such terror 
that they began to respect their new guests as a superior 
order of beings, and concluded that they were children of 
the sun, who had descended to visit the earth. 

To all the kingdoms of Europe, Christopher Columbus, 
by an effort of genius and of intrepidity the boldest and 
most successful that is recorded in the annals of mankind, 
added a new world. — Ibid. 



THE BRONZE DOOR AT WASHINGTON. 

This is the main central door of the Capitol at Wash- 
ington, D. C, and on it is a pictured history of events 



i 

¥WBm 




m 


M' 





THE COLUMBUS MONUMENT, 

Paseo de la Reforma, City of Mexico. Sculptor, M. Cordier. 

(See page 234.) 



COLUMBUS. 273 

connected with the life of Columbus and the discovery of 
America. 

The door weighs 20,000 pounds; is seventeen feet high 
and nine feet wide; it is folding or double, and stands sunk 
back inside of a bronze casing, which projects about a foot 
forward from the leaves or valves. On this casing are four 
figures at the top and bottom, representing Asia, Africa, 
Europe, and America. A border, emblematic of conquest 
and navigation, runs along the casing between them. 

The door has eight panels besides the semicircular one 
at the top. In each panel is a picture in alto-relievo. 

It was designed by Randolph Rogers, an American, and 
modeled by him in Rome, in 1858; and was cast by F. Von 
Muller, at Munich, 1861. 

The story the door tells is the history of Columbus and 
the discovery of America. 

The panel containing the earliest event in the life of the 
discoverer is the lowest one on the south side, and repre- 
sents "Columbus undergoing an examination before the 
Council of Salamanca." 

The panel above it contains " Columbus' departure from 
the Convent of Santa Maria de la R^bida," near Palos. He 
is just setting out to visit the Spanish court. 

The one above it is his " audience at the court of Ferdi- 
nand and Isabella." 

The ne.xt panel is the top one of this half of the door, 
and represents the "starting of Columbus from Palos on 
his first voyage." 

The transom panel occupies the semicircular sweep over 
the whole door. The extended picture here is the "first 
landing of the Spaniards at San Salvador." 

The top panel on the other leaf of the door represents 
the " first encounter of the discoverers with the natives." 
In it one of the sailors is seen bringing an Indian girl on 

18 



•2(4: COLUMIiUS AND COLUMBIA. 

his shoulders a priscnier. The transaction aroused the 
stern indignation of Columbus. 

The panel ne.xt below this one has in it "the triumphal 
entry of Columbus into Barcelona." 

The panel below this represents a very different scene, 
and is '" Columbus in chains." 

In the next and last panel is the " death scene." Colum- 
bus lies in bed; the last rites of the Catholic church have 
been administered; friends and attendants are around him; 
and a priest holds up a crucifix for him to kiss, and upon 
it bids him fix his dying eyes. 

On the door, on the sides and between the panels, are 
sixteen small statues, set in niches, of eminent contempo- 
raries of Columbus. Their names are marked on the door, 
and beginning at the bottom, on the side from which we 
started in numbering the panels, we find the figure in the 
lowest niche is Juan Perez de la Marchena, prior of La 
Rilbida; then above him is Hernando Cortez; and again, 
standing over him, is Alonzo de Ojeda. 

Amerigo Vespucci occupies the next niche on the door. 

Then, opposite in line, across the door, standing in two 
niches, side by side, are Cardinal Mendoza and Pope Alex- 
ander VI. 

Then below them stand Ferdinand and Isabella, King 
and Queen of Spain; beneath them stands the Lady 
Beatrice Enriquezde Bobadilla; beside her is Charles VIII., 
King of France. 

The first figure of the lowest pair on the door is Henry 
VII. of England; beside him stands John II., King of 
Portugal. 

Then, in the same line with them, across the panel, is 
Alonzo Pinzon. 

In the niche above Alonzo Pinzon stands Bartolomeo 
Columbus, the brother of the great navigator. 



COLUMBUS. 275 

Then comes Vasco Nunez de Balboa, and in the niche 
above, again at the top of the door, stands the figure of 
Francisco Pizarro, the conqueror of Peru. 

Between the panels and at top and bottom of the valves 
of the door are ten projecting heads. Those between the 
panels are historians who have written Columbus' voyages 
from his own time down to the present day, ending with 
Washington Irving and William Hickling Prescott. 

The two heads at the tops of the valves are female 
heads, while the two next the floor possess Indian charac- 
teristics. 

Above, over the transom arch, looks down, over all, the 
serene grand head of Columbus. Beneath it, the American 
eagle spreads out his widely extended wings. 

Mr. Rogers^'' received $8,000 for his models, and Mr. 
Von Mtiller was paid $17,000 in gold for casting the door. 
To a large portion of this latter sum must be added the 
high premium on exchange which ruled during the war, 
the cost of storage and transportation, and the expense of 
the erection of the door in the Capitol after its arrival. 
These items would, added together*, far exceed $30,000 
in the then national currency. 



SANTA MARIA RABIDA, THE CONVENT RABIDA. 

Samuel Rogers, the English banker-poet. Born near London, July 
30, 1763; died December, 1855. Translated from a Castilian MS., 
and printed as an introduction to his poem, "The Voyage of 
Columbus." It is stated that he spent $50,000 in the illustrations 
of this volume of his poems. 

In Riibida's monastic fane 

I can not ask, and ask in vain; 

*' Randolph Rogers, an American sculptor of eminence, was born 
in Waterloo, N. Y., in 1825; died at Rome, in the same State, aged 
sixty-seven, January 14, 1892. 



276 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

The language of Castille I speak, 
'Mid many an Arab, many a Greek, 
Old in the days of Charlemagne, 
When minstrel-music wandered round, 
And science, waking, blessed the sound. 

No earthly thought has here a place, 
The cowl let down on every face; 
Yet here, in consecrated dust. 
Here would I sleep, if sleep I must. 
From Genoa, when Columbus came 
(At once her glory and her shame), 
'Twas here he caught the holy flame; 
'T was here the generous vow he made; 
His banners on the altar laid. 

Here, tempest-worn and desolate, 
A pilot journeying through the wild 

Stopped to solicit at the gate 
A pittance for his child. 

'Twas here, unknowing and unknown. 
He stood upon the threshold stone. 
But hope was his, a faith sublime, 
That triumphs over place and time; 
And here, his mighty labor done, 
And here, his course of glory run, 
Awhile as more than man he stood, 
So large the debt of gratitude. 



Who the great secret of the deep possessed, 
And, issuing through the portals of the West, 
Fearless, resolved, with every sail unfurled, 
Planted his standard on the unknown world. 

—Ibid. 



COLUMBUS. 377 



GENOA. 



Thy brave mariners, 
They had fought so often by thy side, 
Staining the mountain billows. 

—Ibid. 



LAUNCHED OUT INTO THE DEEP. 

William Russell, American author and educationist. Born in Scot- 
land, 1798; died, 1S73. From his " Modern History." 

Transcendent genius and superlative courage experience 
almost equal difficulty in carrying their designs into execu- 
tion when they depend on the assistance of others. 
Columbus possessed both — he exerted both; and the con- 
currence of other heads and other hearts was necessary to 
give success to either; he had indolence and cowardice to 
encounter, as well as ignorance and prejudice. He had 
formerly been ridiculed as a visionary, he was now pitied 
as a desperado. The Portuguese navigators, in accom- 
plishing their first discoveries, had always some reference 
to the coast; cape had pointed them to cape; but Colum- 
bus, with no landmark but the heavens, nor any guide but 
the compass, boldly launched into the ocean, without know- 
ing what shore should receive him or where he could find 
rest for the sole of his foot. 



STATUARY AT SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA. 

One of the principal features in the State capitol at Sac- 
ramento is a beautiful and artistic group of statuary, cut 
from a solid block of purest white marble. It represents 
Columbus pleading the cause of his project before Queen 
Isabella of Spain. The Spanish sovereign is seated; at her 
left hand kneels the First Admiral, while an attendant page 



278 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

on the right watches with wonder the nobly generous 
action of the Queen. Columbus, with a globe in his hand, 
contends that the world is round, and pleads for assistance 
to fit out an expedition to discover the New World. The 
ro3'al reply is, " I will assume the undertaking for my own 
crown of Castille, and am ready to pledge my jewels to 
defray its expense, if the funds in the treasury shall be 
found inadequate." The group, which is said to be a mas- 
terpiece of work, the only piece of its kind in the United 
States, was executed in Florence, Italy, by Larkin G. 
Mead of Vermont, an American artist of known reputa- 
tion. Costing $60,000, it was presented to the State of 
California, in 1883, by Mr. D. O. Mills 



A MONUMENT NEAR SALAMANCA. 

At Valcuebo, a country farm once belonging to the 
Dominicans of Salamanca, Columbus was entertained 
by Diego de Deza — prior of the great Dominican convent 
of San Esteban and professor of theology at Salamanca — 
while the Junta [committee] of Spanish ecclesiastics con- 
sidered his prospects. His residence there was a peaceful 
oasis in the stormy life of the great discoverer. The little 
grange still stands at a distance of about three miles west 
of Salamanca, and the country people have a tradition that 
on the crest of a small hill near the house, now called " Teso 
de Colon" (i. e., Columbus' Peak), the future discoverer used 
to pass long hours conferring with his visitors or reading 
in solitude. The present owner, Don Martin de Solis, has 
erected a monument on this hill, consisting of a stone 
pyramid surmounted by a globe; it commemorates the 
spot where the storm-tossed hero enjoyed a brief interval 
of peace and rest. 



COLUMBUS. 279 

HONOR TO WHOM HONOR IS DUE. 

Manoel Francisco de Barros y Souza, Viscount Santarem, a 
noted Portuguese diplomatist and writer. Born at Lisbon, 1790; 

died, 1S56. 

If Columbus was not the first to discover America, he 
was, at least, the man who r^'discovered it, and in a posi- 
tive and definite shape communicated the knowledge of it. 
For, if he verified what the Egyptian priest indicated to 
Solon, the Athenian, as is related by Plato in the Timoeus 
respecting the Island of Atlantis; if he realized the hypoth- 
esis of Actian; if he accomplished the prophecy of 
Seneca in the Medea; if he demonstrated that the story of 
the mysterious Carthaginian vessel, related by Aristotle 
and Theophrastus, was not a dream; if he established by 
deeds that there was nothing visionary in what St. Gregory 
pointed at in one of his letters to St. Clement; if, in a 
word, Columbus proved by his discovery the existence of 
the land which Madoc had visited before him, as Hakluyt 
and Powell pretended; and ascertained for a certainty that 
which for the ancients had always been so uncertain, prob- 
lematical, and mysterious — his glory becomes only the more 
splendid, and more an object to command admiration. 



THE SANTIAGO BUST. 



At Santiago, Chili, a marble bust of Columbus is to be 
found, with a face modeled after the De Bry portrait, an 
illustration of which latter appears in these pages. The 
bust has a Dutch cap and garments. 



THE ST. LOUIS STATUE. 



In the city of St. Louis, Mo., a statue of Columbus has 
been erected as the gift of Mr. Henry D. Shaw. It con- 
sists of a heroic-sized figure of Columbus in gilt bronze, 



380 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

upon a granite pedestal, which has four bronze basso relievos 
of the principal events in his career. The face of the statue 
follows the Genoa model, and the statue was cast at 
Munich. 



SOUTHERN AMERICA S TRIBUTE. 

At Lima, Peru, a fine group of statuary was erected in 
1850, representing Columbus in the act of raising an Indian 
girl from the ground. Upon the front of the marble ped- 
estal is the simple dedication: "A Cristoval Colon" (To 
Christopher Columbus), and upon the other three faces are 
appropriate nautical designs. 



THE'STATIJE'IN BOSTON. 

In addition to the' lasigi statu e,- Boston boasts of one of 
the most artistic .statues to Columbus, and will, shortly 
possess a third. "The First Inspiration of the Boy Colum- 
bus" is a beautiful example of the work of Signer G. Mon- 
teverde, a celebrated Italian sculptor. It was made in Rome, 
in 187 1, and, winning the first prize of a gold medal at 
Parma, in that year, was presented to the city of Boston by 
Mr. A. P. Chamberlain of Concord, Mass. It represents 
Columbus as a youth, seated upon the capstan of a vessel, 
with an open book in his hand, his foot carelessly swinging 
in an iron ring. In addition to this statue, a I'cplica of the 
Old Isabella statue (described on page 171, ante), is, it is 
understood, to be presented to the city. 



STATUE AT GENOA. 



In the Red Palace, Genoa, a statue of Columbus has been 
erected representing him standing on the deck of the Santa 
Maria, behind a padre with a cross. The pedestal of the 
statue is ornamented with prows of caravels, and on each 



COLUMUUS. 281 

side a mythological figure represents Discovery and 
Industry. 



THE STATUE AT PALOS. 

Now in course of erection to commemorate the discovery, 
and under the auspices of the Spanish government, is a 
noble statue at Palos, Spain. It consists of a fluted column 
of the Corinthian order of architecture, capped by a crown, 
supporting an orb, surmounted by a cross. The orb bears 
two bands, one about its equator and the other represent- 
ing the zodiac. On the column are the names of the Pin- 
zon brothers, Martin and Vicente Yanez; and under the 
prows of the caravels, "Colon," with a list of the persons 
who accompanied him. The column rests upon a prismatic 
support, from which protrude four prows, and the pedestal 
of the whole is in the shape of a tomb, with an Egyptian- 
like appearance. 



THE STATUE IN PHILADELPHIA. 

In Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, Pa., there is placed a 
statue of Columbus, which, originally exhibited at the Cen- 
tennial Exposition, at Philadelphia, in 1876, was presented 
to the Centennial Commission by the combined Italian 
societies of Philadelphia. 



THE STEBBINS STATUE. 

In Central Park, New York City, is located an artistic 
statue, the gift of Mrs. Marshall O. Roberts, and the work 
of Miss Emma Stebbins. The figure of Columbus is seven 
feet high, and represents him as a sailor with a mantle 
thrown over his shoulder. The face is copied from 
accepted portraits of the Giovian type. 



282 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

SANTO DOMINGOAN CANNON. 

When Columbus was made a prisoner in Santo Domingo, 
the governor, who arrested him, feared there might be an 
attempt at rescue, so he trained a big gun on the entrance 
of the citadel, or castle, in which Columbus was confined. 
That cannon laid in the same place until Mr. Ober, a 
World's Fair representative, recovered it, and, with the per- 
mission of the Governor of Santo Domingo, brought it to 
the United States. It is on exhibition at the World's Fair. 



THE SANTA MARIA CARAVEL. 

A very novel feature of the historical exhibit at the Chi- 
cago World's Columbian Exposition will be a fac-simile 
reproduction of the little ship Santa Maria, in which 
Columbus sailed. Lieut. McCarty Little of the United 
States navy was detailed to go to Spain to superintend 
the construction of the ship by the Spanish government at 
the Carraca yard at Cadiz. The keel was laid on March i, 
1892. The caravel's dimensions are: Length at keel, 62 feet 
4 inches; length between perpendiculars, 75 feet 5 inches; 
beam, 22 feet; draught, 14 feet 8 inches. Great care is 
being taken with details. It is manned by Spanish sailors 
in the costume of the time of Columbus, and is rigged as 
Columbus rigged his ship. There are on board copies of 
the charts that Columbus used, and fac-similes of his nauti- 
cal instruments. The crew are of the same number, and 
included in it are an Englishman and an Irishman, for it is 
a well-founded historical fact that William Harris, an 
Englishman, and Arthur Lake, an Irishman, were both 
members of Columbus' crew. In fact, the reproduction is 
as exact as possible in every detail. The little ship, in 
company with her sisters, the Pinta and the Nina, which 
were reproduced by American capital, will make its first 



COLUMBUS. 283 

appearance at the naval review in New York, where the 
trio will be saluted by the great cruisers and war-ships of 
modern invention from all of the navies of the world. 
They will then be presented by the government of Spain 
to the President of the United States, and towed through 
the lakes to Chicago, being moored at the Exposition. It 
is proposed that the vessels be taken to Washington after 
the Exposition, and there anchored in the park of the 
White House. 

The Spanish committee having the matter in charge 
have made careful examinations of all obtainable data to 
insure that the vessels shall be, in every detail which can 
be definitely determined, exact copies of the original 
Columbus vessels. In connection with this subject, La 
Ilustracion Nacional of Madrid, to whom we are indebted 
for our first-page illustration, says: 

" A great deal of data of very varied character has been 
obtained, but nothing that would give the exact details 
sought, because, doubtless, the vessels of that time varied 
greatly, not only in the form of their hulls, but also in their 
rigging, as will be seen by an examination of the engrav- 
ings and paintings of the fifteenth century; and as there was 
no ship that could bear the generic name of 'caravel,' 
great confusion was caused when the attempt was made to 
state, with a scientific certainty, what the caravels were. 
The word ' caravel ' comes from the Italian cara bella, and 
with this etymology it is safe to suppose that the name was 
applied to those vessels on account of the grace and beauty 
of their form, and finally was applied to the light vessels 
which went ahead of the ships as dispatch boats. Never- 
theless, we think we have very authentic data, perhaps all 
that is reliable, in the letter of Juan de la Cosa, Christo- 
pher Columbus' pilot. Juan de la Cosa used many illus- 
trations, and with his important hydrographic letter, which 



2<S4 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

is in the Naval Museum, we can appreciate his ability in 
drawing both landscapes and figures. As he was both 
draughtsman and mariner, we feel safe in affirming that 
the caravels drawn in said letter of the illustrious 
mariner form the most authentic document in regard to the 
vessels of his time that is in existence. From these drav/- 
ings and the descriptions of the days' runs in the part 
marked ' incidents ' of Columbus' log, it is ascertained 
that these vessels had two sets of sails, lateens for sailing 
with bowlines hauled, and with lines for sailing before the 
wind. 

"The same lateens serve for this double object, unbend- 
ing the sails half way and hoisting them like yards by 
means of top ropes. Instead of having the points now 
used for reefing, these sails had bands of canvas called 
bowlines, which were unfastened when it was unnecessary 
to diminish the sails." 



AT PALOS. 
From the Saturday Review, August 6, 1892. 
It was a happy notion, and creditable io the ingenuity 
of the Spaniards, to celebrate the auspicious event, which 
made Palos famous four hundred years ago, by a little dra- 
matic representation. The caravel Maria, manned by 
appropriately dressed sailors, must be a sight better than 
many eloquent speeches. She has, we are told, been built 
in careful imitation of the flagship of Columbus' little 
squadron. If the fidelity of the builders has been thorough, 
if she has not been coppered, has no inner skin, and has 
to trust mainly to her caulking to keep out the water, we 
hope that she will have unbroken good weather on her way 
to New York. The voyage to Havana across the *' Ladies' 
Sea " is a simple business; but the coast of the United States 
in early autumn will be trying to a vessel which will be 



COLUMBUS. 285 

buoyant enough as long as she is water-tight, but is not to 
be trusted to remain so under a severe strain. She will 
not escape the strain wholly by being towed. We are not 
told whether the Maria is to make the landfall of Columbus 
as well as take his departure. The disputes of the learned, 
as to the exact spot might make it difficult to decide for 
which of the Bahamas the captain ought to steer. On the 
other hand, if it were left to luck, to the wind, and the 
currents, the result might throw some light on a vexed 
question. It might be interesting to see whether the 
Maria touched at Turk Island, Watling's Island, or Mari- 
guana, or at none of the three. 

The event which the Spaniards are celebrating with 
natural pride is peculiarly fitted to give an excuse for a 
centenary feast. The complaints justly made as to the arti- 
ficial character of the excuses often chosen for these gath- 
erings and their eloquence do not apply here. Beyond all 
doubt, when Columbus sailed from Palos on August 3, 
1492, he did something by which the history of the world 
was profoundly mfluenced. Every schoolboy of course 
knows that if Columbus had never lived America would 
have been discovered all the same, when Pedro Alvarez 
Cabral, the Portuguese admiral, was carried by the trade- 
winds over to the coast of Brazil in 1500. But in that 
case it would not have been discovered by Spain, and the 
whole course of the inevitable European settlement on the 
continent must have been modified. 

When that can be said of any particular event there can 
be no question as to its importance. I'here is a kind of 
historical critic, rather conspicuous in these latter days, 
who finds a peculiar satisfaction in pointing out that Colum- 
bus discovered America without knowing it — which is true. 
That he believed, and died in the belief, that he had 
reached Asia is certain. It is not less sure that Ameritro 



286 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

Vespucci, from whom the continent was named, by a series 
of flukes, misprints, and misunderstandings, went to his grave 
in the same faith. He thought that he had found an island 
of uncertain size to the south of the equator, and that 
what Columbus had found to the north was the eastern 
extremity of Asia. But the world which knows that Colum- 
bus did, as a matter of fact, do it the service of finding 
America, and is aware that without him the voyage from 
Palos would never have been undertaken, has refused to 
belittle him because he did not know beforehand what was 
only found out through his exertions. 

The learned who have written very largely about Colum- 
bus have their serious doubts as to the truth of the stories 
told of his connection with Palos. Not that there is any 
question as to whether he sailed from there. The dispute 
is as to the number and circumstances of his visits to the 
Convent of Santa Maria Rabida, and the exact nature of 
his relations to the Prior Juan Perez de Marchena. There 
has, in fact, been a considerable accumulation of what that 
very rude man, Mr. Carlyle, called the marine stores of 
history about the life of Columbus, as about most great 
transactions. He certainly had been at La Rabida, and the 
prior was his friend. But, with or without Juan Perez, 
Columbus as a seafaring man would naturally have been in 
Palos. It lies right in the middle of the coast, which has 
always been open to attack from Africa and has been 
the starting point for attack on Africa. It is in the way 
of trade for the same reason that it is in the way of war. 
What are now fishing villages were brisk little trading 
towns in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Palos did 
not only send out Columbus. It received Cortez when he 
came back from the conquest of Mexico. Palos does very 
well to remember its glories. And Spain does equally well 
to remember that she sent out Columbus. In spite of the 



COLUMBUS. 287 

platitudes talked by painfully thoughtful persons as to the 
ruinous consequences of the discovery to herself, it was, 
take it altogether, the greatest thing she has done in the 
world. She owes to it her unparalleled position in the six- 
teenth century, and the opportunity to become " a mother 
of nations." The rest of the world has to thank her for 
the few magnificent and picturesque passages which enliven 
the commonly rather colorless, not to say Philistine, histori 
of America. 



A REMINISCENCE OF COLUMBUS. 
Randall N. Saunders, Claverack, N. Y.. in the School Journal. 

* * * What boy has not felt a thrill of pride, for the 
sex, at the dogged persistence with which Columbus clung 
to his purpose and to Isabella after Ferdinand had flung 
to him but stony replies. 

********* 

Methinks I am starting from Palos. I see the pale, 
earnest face set in its steadfast resolution from prophetic 
knowledge. I see the stern lines of care, deeper from the 
contrast of the hair, a silver mantle refined by the worry; 
the " midnight oil " that burned in the fiery furnace of his 
ambition. I see the flush of pleasure at setting out to bat- 
tle with the perilous sea toward the consummation of life's 
grand desire. I feel the waverings between hope and 
despair as the journey lengthens, with but faint promise of 
reward, and with those around who would push us into the 
overwhelming waves of defeat and remorse. Amid all dis- 
couragements, amid the darkest gloom, I am inspired by 
his words, " Sail on, sail on"; and sailing on with the grand 
old Genoese, I yet hope to know and feel his glorious suc- 
cess, and with him to return thanks on the golden strand of 
the San Salvador of life's success. 



288 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

THE DENSE IGNORANCE OF THOSE DAYS. 

The Reverend Minot Judson Savage, an American clergyman. Born 
at Norridgewock, Maine, June lo, 1841. Pastor of Unity 
Church, Boston. From his lecture, "The Religious Growth of 
Three Hundred Years." 

Stand beside Columbus a moment, and consider how 
much and how little there was known. It was commonly 
believed that the earth was flat and was flowed round by 
the ocean stream. Jerusalem was the center. With the 
exception of a little of Europe, a part of Asia, and a strip 
of North Africa, the earth was unknown country. In these 
unknown parts dwelt monsters of every conceivable 
description. Columbus indeed cherished the darhig dream 
that he might reach the eastern coast of Asia by sailing 
west; but most of those who knew his dreams regarded 
him as crazy. And it is now known that even he was 
largely impelled by his confident expectation that he 
would be able to discover the Garden of Eden. The 
motive of his voyage was chiefly a religious one. And, as 
a hint of the kind of world in which people then lived, the 
famous Ponce de Leon searched Florida in the hope of dis- 
covering the Fountain of Perpetual Youth. At this time 
Copernicus and his system were unheard of. The universe 
was a little three-story affair. Heaven, with God on his 
throne and his celestial court about him, was only a little 
way overhead — just beyond the blue dome. Hell was 
underneath the surface of the earth. Volcanoes and mys- 
terious caverns were vent-holes or gate-ways of the pit; 
and devils came and went at will. Even after it was con- 
ceded that the earth revolved, there were found writers who 
accounted for the diurnal revolution by attributing it to 
the movements of damned souls confined within, like rest- 
less squirrels in a revolving cage. On the earth's surface, 
between heaven and hell, was man, the common battle- 




From Harper's Weekly, 



Copyright, 1892, by Harper 4 Brotbe 

THE COLUMBUS MONUMENT, NEW YORK CITY. 

Presented by the Italian Citizens. 

(See page 243.) 



COLUMBUS, 289 

ground of celestial and infernal hosts. At this time, of 
course, there was none of our modern knowledge of the 
heavens, nor of the age or stiructure of the earth. 



senega's prophecy. 
Lucius Ann/eus Seneca, an eminent Roman stoic, philosopher, and 
moralist. Born at Corduba, Spain, about 5 B. C. ; committed 
suicide 65 A. D. 

Venient annis 
Sacula seris, quibtis Oceanus 
Vincula rerum laxet, et ingens 
Patent teilus, Tethysque novos 
Detegat orhes, nee sit terris 
Ultima Thule. 

THE TOMB IN SEVILLE. 

The following inscription is placed on the tomb of Her- 
nando Columbus in the pavement of the Cathedral of 
Seville, Spain: 

Aqui yaze el. M. Magnifico S. D. Hernando Colon el 
qual aplic6 y gastd toda su vida y hazienda en aumento'de 
las letras, y juntar y perpetuar en esta ciudad todas sus 
hbros de todas las ciencias, que en su tiempo hallo y en 
reducirlo a quatro libros. 

Fallecio en esta ciudad a 12 de Julio de 1539 de edad de 
50 anos 9 meses y 14 dias, fue hijo del valeroso y memora- 
ble S. D. Christ. Colon primero Almirante que descubrio 
las Yndias y nuevo mundo en vida de los Cat. R. D. Fer- 
nando, y. D. Ysabel de gloriosa memoria a. u de Oct. de 
1492, con tres galeras y 90 personas, y partio del puerto de 
Palos k descubrirlas a 3 de Agosto antes, y Bolvid a Cas- 
tilla con victoria k 7 de Maio del Ano Siguente y torn(5 
despues otras dos veces A poblar lo que descubrio. Fal- 
lecio en Valladolid k 20 de Agosto de 1506 afios— ^^ 

Rogad :'i Dios por ellos. 

^'^ Mr George Surnn^a painstaking investigator, states that after 



19 



290 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

(In English.) Here rests the most magnificent Sefior 
Don Hernando Colon, who applied and spent all his life 
and estate in adding to the letters, and collecting and per- 
petuating in this city all his books, of all the sciences 
which he found in his time, and in reducing them to four 
books. He died in this city on the 12th of July, 1539, 
at the age of 50 years, 9 months, and 14 days. He was son 
of the valiant and memorable Sefior Don Christopher Colon, 
the First Admiral, who discovered the Indies and the New 
World, in the lifetime of their Catholic Majesties Don Fer- 
nando and Dofia Isabel of glorious memory, on the nth 
of October, 1492, with three galleys and ninety people, 
having sailed from the port of Palos on his discovery on 
the 3d of August previous, and returned to Castille, with 
victory, on the 7th of May of the following year. He 
returned afterward twice to people that which he had dis- 
covered. He died in Valladolid on the 20th of August, 

1506, aged . 

Entreat the Lord for them. 

Beneath this is described, in a circle, a globe, presenting 
the western and part of the eastern hemispheres, sur- 
mounted by a pair of compasses. Within the border of the 
circle is inscribed: , 

A Castilla y d Leon 
Miifido nuevo did Colon. 

(To Castille and Leon, Columbus gave a new world.) 

diligent search he is unable to find any other inscription to the memory of 
Columbus in the whole of Spain. 

At Valladolid, where he died, and where his body lay for some years, 
there is none, so far as he could discover; neither is there any trace of any 
at the Cartuja, near Seville, to which his body was afterward trans- 
ferred, and in which his brother was buried. It is (he writes in 1871) a 
striking confirmation of the reproach of negligence, in regard to the 
memory of this great man, that, in this solitary inscription in old Spain, 
the date of his death should be inaccurately given. — Major's " Letters of 
Columbus," 1871. 

(The Madrid and Barcelona statues were erected in 18S5 and 1888 
respectively.) — S. C. W. 



columbus. 291 

onward! press on! 

JoHANN Christoph Friedrich Schiller, one of Germany's greatest 
poets. Born at Marbach (about eight miles from Stuttgart), No- 
vember II, 1759; died, May 9, 1805, at Weimar. 

COLUMBUS. 

(1795.) ^ 

Steure, muthiger Segler! Es mag der Witz dich verhohen 
Und der Schiffer am Steur senken die liissige Hand. 
Immer, immer nach West ! Dort muss die Kiiste sich 

zeigen, 
Liegt sie doch deutlich und liegt schimmernd vor deinem 

Verstand. 
Traue dem leitenden Gott und folge dem schweigenden 

Weltmeer! 
War sie noch nicht, sie stieg' jetzt aus dem Fluten empor. 
Mit dem Genius steht die Natur in ewigem Bunde 
Was der Eine verspricht^leistet die Andre gewiss. 

Metrically translated (1843) by Sir Edward George Earle Lytton, 
Bulwer-Lytton, Baronet (afterward first Lord Lytton. Born at 
Heydon Hall, Norfolk, May 25, 1803; died, January 18, 1873), in 
the following noble lines: 

COLUMBUS. 

Steer on, bold sailor! Wit may mock thy soul that sees the 
land, 

And hopeless at the helm may droop the weak and weary 
hand, 

Yet ever, ever to the West, for there the coast must 
lie, 

And dim it dawns, and glimmering dawns before thy rea- 
son's eye; 

Yea, trust the guiding God — and go along the floating 
grave, 



392 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

Though hid till now — yet now, behold the New World o'er 

the wave. 
With Genius Nature ever stands in solemn union still, 
And ever what the one foretells the other shall fulfill. 

Senor Emilio Castelar, the talented Spanish orator and statesman, in 
the fourth of a series of most erudite and interesting articles upon 
Christopher Columbus, in the Century Magazine for August, 1892, 
thus masterly refers to the above passages: 

He who pens these words, on reading the lines of the 
great poet Schiller upon Columbus, found therein a philo- 
sophical thought, as original as profound, calling upon the 
discoverer to press ever onward, for a new world will surely 
arise for him, inasmuch as whatever is promised by Genius 
is always fulfilled by Nature. To cross the seas of Life, 
naught suffices save the bark of Faith. In that bark the 
undoubting Columbus set sail, and at his journey's end 
found a new world. Had that world not then existed, God 
would have created it in the solitude of the Atlantic, if to 
no other end than to reward the faith and constancy of that 
great man. America was discovered because Columbus 
possessed a living faith in his ideal, in himself, and in his 
God. 



THE Norseman's claim to priority. 

Mrs. John B. Shipley's " Leif Erikson." 

Father Bodfish, of the cathedral in Boston, in his paper, 
read a year ago before the Bostonian Society, on the discov- 
ery of America by the Northmen, is reported to have quoted, 
" as corroborative authority, the account given in standard 
history of the Catholic Church of the establishment of a 
bishopric in Greenland in 11 12 A. D., and he added the 
interesting suggestion that as it is the duty of a bishop so 
placed at a distance to report from time to time to the 



COLUMBUS. 293 

Pope, not only on ecclesiastical matters, but of the geog- 
raphy of the country and character of the people, it is 
probable that Columbus had the benefit of the knowledge 
possessed. It is [he said] stated in different biographies 
of Columbus that when the voyage was first proposed by 
him he found difficulty in getting Spanish sailors to go 
with him in so doubtful an undertaking. After Columbus 
returned from a visit to Rome with information there 
obtained, these sailors, or enough of them, appear to have 
had their doubts or fears removed, and no difficulty in 
enlistment was experienced." 



COLUMBUS BEFORE THE UNIVERSITY OF SALAMANCA. 

Lydia Huntley Sigourney, an American poet and miscellaneous 
writer. Born at Norwich, Conn., September i, 1791; died, June 
10, 1865. 

St. Stephen's cloistered hall was proud 

In learning's pomp that day. 
For there a robed and stately crowd 

Pressed on in long array. 
A mariner with simple chart 

Confronts that conclave high, 
While strong ambition stirs his heart. 
And burning thoughts of wonder part 
From lip and sparkling eye. 

What hath he said? With frowning face, 

In whispered tones they speak; 
And lines upon their tablet's trace 

Which flush each ashen cheek. 
The Inquisition's mystic doom 

Sits on their brows severe. 
And bursting forth in visioned gloom, 
Sad heresy from burning tomb 

Groans on the startled ear. 



294 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

Courage, thou Genoese! Old Time 

Thy splendid dream shall crown. 
Yon western hemisphere sublime, 

Where unshorn forests frown; 
The awful Andes' cloud-rapt brow, 

The Indian hunter's bow. 
Bold streams untamed by helm or prow, 
And rocks of gold and diamonds thou 

To thankless Spain shalt show. 

Courage, world-finder, thou hast need. 

In Fate's unfolding scroll. 
Dark woes and ingrate wrongs I read. 

That rack the noble soul. 
On, on! Creation's secrets probe, 

Then drink thy cup of scorn. 
And wrapped in fallen Caesar's robe. 
Sleep like that master of the globe, 

All glorious, yet forlorn. 



COLUMBUS A MARTYR, 

Samuel Smiles, the celebrated British biographer. Born at Hadding- 
ton, Scotland, about 1815. From his volume, " Duty." 

Even Columbus may be regarded in the light of a 
martyr. He sacrificed his life to the discovery of a new 
world. The poor wool-carder's son of Genoa had long to 
struggle unsuccessfully with the petty conditions necessary 
for the realization of his idea. He dared to believe, on 
grounds sufficing to his reason, that which the world dis- 
believed, and scoffed and scorned at. He believed that 
the earth was round, while the world believed that it was 
flat as a plate. He believed that the whole circle of the 
earth, outside the known world, could not be wholly occu- 
pied by sea; but that the probability was that continents 



COLUMBUS. 295 

of land might be contained within it. It was certainly a 
probability; but the noblest qualities of the soul are often 
brought forth by the strength of probabilities that appear 
slight to less daring spirits. In the eyes of his country- 
men, few things were more improbable than that Columbus 
should survive the dangers of unknown seas, and land on 
the shores of a new hemisphere. 



DIFFICULTIES BY THE WAV. 

ROYALL Bascom Smithey, in an article, " The Voyage of Columbus," 
in St N'icholas, July, 1892. 

So the voyage progressed without further incident worthy 
of remark till the 13th of September, when the magnetic 
needle, which was then believed always to point to the pole- 
star, stood some five degrees to the northwest. At this the 
pilots lost courage. ' ' How," they thought, *' was navigation 
possible in seas where the compass, that unerring guide, 
had lost its virtue?" When they carried the matter to 
Columbus, he at once gave them an explanation which, 
though not the correct one, was yet very ingenious, and 
shows the philosophic turn of his mind. The needle, he 
said, pointed not to the north star, but to a fixed place 
in the heavens. The north star had a motion around the 
pole, and in following its course had moved from the point 
to which the needle was always directed. 

Hardly had the alarm caused by the variation of the 
needle passed away, when two days later, after nightfall, 
the darkness that hung over the water was lighted up by a 
great meteor, which shot down from the sky into the sea. 
Signs in the heavens have always been a source of terror 
to the uneducated; and this " flame of fire," as Columbus 
called it, rendered his men uneasy and apprehensive. Their 
vague fears were much increased when, on the i6th of Septem- 
ber, they reached the Sargasso Sea, in which floating weeds 



296 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

were so densely matted that they impeded the progress of 
the ships. Whispered tales now passed from one sailor to 
another of legends they had heard of seas full of shoals 
and treacherous quicksands upon which ships had been 
found stranded with their sails flapping idly in the wind, 
and manned by skeleton crews. Columbus, ever cheerful 
and even-tempered, answered these idle tales by sounding 
the ocean and showing that no bottom could be reached. 



DESIGN FOR THE SOUVENIR COINS.* 

A decision has been reached by the World 's Fair man- 
agement in relation to the designs for the souvenir coins 
authorized by Congress at its last session, and a radical 
change has been determined upon regarding these coins. 
Several days ago Secretary Leach of the United States 
Mint sent to the Fair officials a copy of the medal struck 
recently at Madrid, Spain, in commemoration of Columbus' 
discovery of America. This medal was illustrated in a 
Spanish- American paper of July, 1892, and showed a 
remarkably fine profile head of the great explorer. It was 
deemed superior to the Lotto portrait previously submitted 
for the obverse of the coin, and the Fair directors have 
concluded that the Madrid medal furnishes the best head 
obtainable, and have accordingly adopted it. For the 
reverse of the coin a change has also been decided upon by 
the substitution of a representation of the western conti- 
nent instead of a fac-simile of the Government building at 
Jackson Park, as originally intended. It was suggested by 
experts, artists, and designers at the Philadelphia mint that 
the representation of a building would not make a very 
good showing on a coin, and in consequence of these expres- 
sions of opinion it was decided to make the change pro- 
posed. Now that the Director of the Mint knows what 
the Fair management wishes for a souvenir coin, he wiH 

* Since writing this the Lotto portrait has been selected. 



B 1^ 





COLUMBUS. 297 

inaugurate the preparations of the dies and plates as 
promptly as possible. Just as soon as the designs are finished, 
work will be begun on the coins, which can be struck at the 
rate of 60,000 daily, and it is quite likely that the deliv- 
eries of the souvenir coins will be completed early in the 
spring. 

The announcement that the Director of the Mint has 
decided upon the Madrid portrait of Columbus for the 
obverse side of the souvenir coin, with this hemisphere on 
the reverse, was a surprise to many interested in the designs. 
When the design was first presented, C. F. Gunther's por- 
trait, by Moro, and James W. Ellsworth's, by Lotto, were also 
presented. Then a controversy opened between the owners 
of the two last-named portraits, and, rather than extend this, 
Mr. Ellsworth withdrew his portrait, with the suggestion 
that whatever design was decided upon should first be sub- 
mitted to the artists at the World's Fair grounds. This was 
done, and they severely criticised the Madrid picture. Not- 
withstanding this, the design was approved and sent to 
Washington to be engraved. While Mr. Ellsworth, who is 
a director of the Fair, will not push his portrait to the front 
in this matter, he regrets that the Madrid portrait was 
selected. He said, "I think that the opinion of the 
World's Fair artists should have had some weight in this 
matter and that a portrait of authenticity should have been 
selected." 



THE DARKNESS BEFORE DISCOVERY. 

Charles Sumner, an American lawyer and senator. Born in Boston, 
Mass., January 6, 1811; died, March 11, 1874. From his "Pro- 
phetic Voices Concerning America." By permission of Messrs. 
Lee & Shepard, Publishers, Boston. 

Before the voyage of Columbus in 1492. nothing of 
America was really known. Scanty scraps from antiquity, 



298 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

vague rumors from the resounding ocean, and the hesitat- 
ing speculations of science were all that the inspired navi- 
gator found to guide him. 

GREATEST EVENT. 

The discovery of America by Christopher Columbus is 
the greatest event of secular history. Besides the potato, 
the turkey, and maize, which it introduced at once for the 
nourishment and comfort of the Old World, and also 
tobacco — which only blind passion for the weed could place 
in the beneficent group — this discovery opened the door to 
influences infinite in extent and beneficence. Measure 
them, describe them, picture them, you can not. While 
yet unknown, imagination invested this continent with 
proverbial magnificence. It was the Orient, and the land 
of Cathay. When, afterward, it took a place in geography, 
imagination found another field in trying to portray its 
future history. If the golden age is before, and not behind, 
as is now happily the prevailing faith, then indeed must 
America share, at least, if it does not monopolize, the 
promised good. — Ibid. 



THE DOUBTS OF COLUMBUS. 

Prof. D.A.VID Swing, a celebrated American preacher. Born in Cincin- 
nati in 1830; graduated at Miami University in 1852; was for 
twelve years Professor of Languages at this university. In 1866 
he became pastor of a Presbyterian church in Chicago. He was 
tried for heresy in 1874, was acquitted, and then withdrew from 
the Presbyterian church, being now independent of denomina- 
tional relations. 

Columbus was not a little troubled all through his early 
life lest there might be over the sea some land greater 
than Spain, a land unused; a garden where flowers came 
and went unseen for ages, and where gold sparkled in the 
sand. 



COLUMBUS. 299 

THE ERROR OF COLUMBUS. 

From a sermon by Prof. Swing, printed in Chicago Intc7- Ocean, 1892. 

The present rejoices in the remembrance that Columbus 
was a student, a thinker; that he loved maps and charts; 
that he was a dreamer about new continents; but after 
enumerating all these attractive forms of mental activity, 
it comes with pain upon the thought that he was also a 
kind of modified pirate. His thoughts and feelings went 
away from his charts and compasses and touched upon 
vice and crime. Immorality ruins man's thought. Let 
the name be Columbus, or Aaron Burr, or Byron, a touch 
of immorality is the death of thought. "Whatsoever 
things are true, whatsoever things are beautiful, whatsoever 
things are of good report," these seek, say, and do, but 
when the man who would discover a continent robs a 
merchant ship or steals a cargo of slaves, or when a poet 
teaches gross vulgarity, then the thinker is hemmed and 
degraded by criminality. It is the glory of our age that it 
is washing white much of old thought. What is the eman- 
cipation of woman but the filtration of old thought? Did 
not Columbus study and read and think, and then go out 
and load his ship with slaves? Did not the entire man — 
man the thinker, the philosopher, the theologian — cover 
himself with intellectual glory and then load his ship with 
enslaved womanhood? Was not the scholar Columbus part 
pirate? What was in that atmosphere of the fifteenth 
century which could have given peculiar thoughts to Colum- 
bus alone? Was he alone in his piracy? It is much more 
certain that the chains that held the negro held also all 
womanhood. All old thought thus awaited the electric 
process that should weed ideas from crime. Our later 
years are active in disentangling thought from injustice 
and vulgarity. 



300 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

THE TRIBUTE OF TASSO. 

ToRQUATO Tasso, a celebrated Italian epic poet. Born at Sorrento, 
March ii, 1544; died in Rome, April, 1595. 

Tu spiegherai, Colombo, a un novo polo 

Lontane si le fortunate antenne, 
Ch'a pena seguinl con gli occhi il volo 

La Fama eh' h;i mille occhi e mille penne 
Canti ella Alcide, e Bacco, e di te solo 

Basti a i poster! tuoi ch' alquanto accenne; 
Che quel poco dar^ lunga memoria 
Di poema degnissima e d'istoria. ^' 

— Gerusalemme Liberata, canto xv. 



KNOWLEDGE OF ICELANDIC VOYAGES. 

Bayard Taylor, a distinguished American traveler, writer, and poet. 
Born in Chester County, Pa., in 1825; died at Berlin, December 
19, 1878. From a description of Iceland. 

It is impossible that the knowledge of these voyages 
should not have been current in Iceland in 1477, when 
Columbus, sailing in a ship from Bristol, England, visited 
the island. As he was able to converse with the priests 
and learned men in Latin, he undoubtedly learned of the 
existence of another continent to the west and south; and 
this knowledge, not the mere fanaticism of a vague belief, 
supported him during many years of disappointment. 



GLORY TO GOD. 

The Rev. George L. Taylor, an American clergyman of the present 
century. From " The Atlantic Telegraph." 

Glory to God above. 
The Lord of life and love! 

*' For an English metrical translation, see post, Wiffen. 



COIvUMBUS, 301 

Who makes His curtains clouds and waters dark; 
Who spreads His chambers on the deep, 
While all its armies silence keep; 

Whose hand of old, world-rescuing, steered the ark; 
Who led Troy's bands exiled. 
And Genoa's god-like child, 
And Mayflower, grandly wild, 

And no7v has guided safe a grander bark; 
Who, from her iron loins. 
Has spun the thread that joins 

Two yearning worlds made one with lightning 
spark. 



TENNYSON S TRIBUTE. 

Alfred Tennyson, Baron Tennyson D'Eyncourt of Aldworth, the 
poet laureate of England. Born, 1809, at Somerby, Lincolnshire; 
raised to the peerage in 18S3. From his poem, "Columbus." 

There was a glimmering of God's hand. And God 

Hath more than glimmer'd on me. O my lord, 

I swear to you I heard his voice between 

The thunders in the black Veragua nights, 
" O soul of little faith, slow to believe, 

Have I not been about thee from thy birth? 

Given thee the keys of the great ocean-sea? 

Set thee in light till time shall be no more? 

Is it I who have deceived thee or the world? 

Endure! Thou hast done so well for men, that men 

Cry out against thee; was it otherwise 

With mine own son?" 

And more than once in days 

Of doubt and cloud and storm, when drowning hope 

Sank all but out of sight, I heard his voice, 
" Be not cast down. I lead thee by the hand, 

Fear not." And I shall hear his voice again — 



303 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

I know that he has led me all my life, 
I am not yet too old to work His will — 
His voice again. 

Sir, in that flight of ages which are God's 
Own voice to justify the dead — perchance 
Spain, once the most chivalric race on earth, 
Spain, then the mightiest, wealthiest realm on earth, 
So made by me, may seek to unbury me. 
To lay me in some shrine of this old Spain, 
Or in that vaster Spain I leave to Spain. 
Then some one standing by my grave will say, 
" Behold the bones of Christopher Colon." 
" Ay, but the chains, what do they mean — the chains? " 
I sorrow for that kindly child of Spain 
Who then will have to answer, " These same chains 
Bound these same bones back thro' the Atlantic sea. 
Which he unchain'd for all the world to come." 

The golden guess is morning star to the full round of 
truth. — Ibid. 



NEW YORK CELEBRATED THE TERCENTENARY. 

The managers of the World's Columbian Exposition have 
prided themselves upon being the first to celebrate any 
anniversary of the Columbian discovery, but this credit 
really belongs to the Tammany Society of New York, and 
the second place of honor belongs to the Massachusetts His- 
torical Society of Boston. The Tammany Society met in 
the great wigwam on the 12th day of October, 1792 (old 
style), and exhibited a monumental obelisk, and an animated 
oration was delivered by J. B. Johnson, Esq. 

The Massachusetts Historical Society met at the house 
of the Rev. Dr. Peter Thacher, in Boston, the 23d day of 
October, 1792, and, forming in procession, proceeded to the 



COLUMBUS. 303 

meeting-house in Brattle Street, where a discourse was 
delivered by the Rev. Jeremy Belknap upon the subject of 
•the "Discovery of America by Christopher Columbus." 
He gave a concise and comprehensive narrative of the most 
material circumstances which led to, attended, or were con- 
sequent on the discovery of America. The celebration 
commenced with an anthem. Mr. Thacher made an excel- 
lent prayer. Part of a psalm was then sung, and then Mr. 
Belknap delivered his discourse, which was succeeded by a 
prayer from Mr. Eliot. Mr. Thacher then read an ode 
composed for the occasion by Mr. Belknap, which was sung 
by the choir. This finished the ceremony. 

The facts were brought to light by World's Fair Commis- 
sioner John Boyd Thacher, New York. The account is 
taken from "a journal of a gentleman visiting Boston in 
1792." The writer is said to have been Nathaniel Cutting, 
a native of Brookline, Mass., and who, in the following 
year, was appointed by Washington, upon the recommenda- 
tion of Thomas Jefferson, on a mission to the Dey of 
Algiers. 

It is interesting to note that the Massachusetts Historical 
Society, in assuming to correct the old style date, October 
12th, was guilty of the error of dropping two unnecessary 
days. It dropped eleven days from the calendar instead of 
nine, and at a subsequent meeting it determined to correct 
the date to October 21st, "and that thereafter all celebra- 
tions of the Columbian discovery should fall on the 21st 
day of October." 

The proclamation of the President establishing October 
2ist as the day of general observance of the anniversary of 
the Columbian discovery, and the passage of Senator Hill's 
bill fixing the date for the dedication of the buildings at 
Chicago, it is believed will forevermore fix October 21st as 
the Columbian day. 



304 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

COLUMBUS' SUPREME SUSPENSE. 

Maurice Thompson, an American poet and novelist. Born at Fair- 
field, Ind., September 9, 1844. From his "Byways and Bird- 
notes." 

What a thrill is dashed through a moment of expectancy, 
a point of supreme suspense, when by some time of prepa- 
ration the source of sensation is ready for a consummation 
— a catastrophe! At such a time one's soul is isolated so 
perfectly that it feels not the remotest influence from any 
other of all the universe. The moment preceding the old 
patriarch's first glimpse of the promised land; that point of 
time between certainty and uncertainty, between pursuit 
and capture, whereinto is crowded all the hopes of a life- 
time, as when the brave old sailor from Genoa first heard 
the man up in the rigging utter the shout of discovery; the 
moment of awful hope, like that when Napoleon watched 
the charge of the Old Guard at Waterloo, is not to be 
described. There is but one such crisis for any man. It 
is the yes or no of destiny. It comes, he lives a lifetime 
in its span; it goes, and he never can pass that point again. 



GREAT WEST. 

Henry David Thoreau, an American autlior and naturalist. Born 
in Concord, Mass., in 1817; died, 1862. From liis "Excursions," 
published by Houghton, Mifflin & Co. 

Every sunset which I witness inspires me with the 
desire to go to a west as distant and as far as that into 
which the sun goes down. He appears to migrate westward 
daily, and tempt us to follow him. He is the Great West- 
ern Pioneer whom the nations follow. We dream all night 
of those mountain ridges in the horizon, though they may 
be of vapor only, which were last gilded by his rays. The 
Island of Atlantis, and the islands and gardens of the Hesper- 



pr-^". 





3 5 

o -; 



a ^ CO 
z c ~ 

< o 



~ /^ 



COLUMBUS. 305 

ides, a sort of terrestrial paradise, appear to have been the 
Great West of the ancients, enveloped in mystery and 
poetry. Who has not seen in imagination, when loolcing 
into the sunset sky, the gardens of the Hesperides, and the 
foundation of all those fables? 

Columbus felt the westward tendency more strongly than 
any before. He obeyed it, and found a new world for 
Castille and Leon. The herd of men in those days scented 
fresh pastures from afar. 

And now the sun had stretched out all the hills. 
And now was dropped into the western bay; 
At last he rose, and twitched his mantle blue; 
To-morrow to fresh woods and pastures new. 



THE ROUTE TO THE SPICE INDIES. 

Paolo del Pozzo Toscanelli, a celebrated Italian astronomer Born 
at Florence, 1397; died, 1482. From a letter to Columbus in 1474. 

I praise your desire to navigate toward the west; the 
expedition you wish to undertake is not easy, but the route 
from the west coasts of Europe to the spice Indies is cer- 
tam if the tracks I have marked be followed. 



A VISIT TO PA LOS. 
George Alfred Townsend. In a letter to the Philadelphia Times. 

From one of the hillocks behind the hotel at Huelva 
you can see in the distance East R4bida, Palos, Moguer 
San Juan del Porto, and the sea, where the three birds of 
good omen went skimming past in the vague morning liaht 
400 years ago, lest they might be seen by the Portugue'se 
Columbus means dove, and the arms of Columbus contained 
three doves. From Huelva I sailed to Rabida first. R-ibida 
IS on the last point of the promontory, nearest the sea and 



306 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

Pales is inland from it three miles north, and is near half a 
mile from the Tinto. Passing down the oozy Odiel, we soon 
saw a watering place on the beach outside just where 
Columbus put to sea. We could also see the scaffolding 
around the Columbus monument they were building by 
Rabida. 

After inspecting the convent at Rabida, I bade my 
skipper wait for flood tide to sail round to Palos, while I 
proceeded by land. 

They brought me at Palos an old man who was extremely 
polite, but not one word could we understand of each other, 
until finally I took him by the arm and walked him in the 
direction of the church, whereupon suppressed exclama- 
tions of delight broke forth; the American savage had 
guessed the old man out. In point of fact, this old man 
was waiting all the time to take me to the church, and was 
the father of the boy behind whom I had ridden. Between 
the church and the beach rose a high hillock covered with 
grass, and as high as the church tower. In old times this 
was a mosque of military work, and it had not very long 
been Christian when Columbus came here; possibl}'' it had 
been Christian m his day 150 years. It stands quite alone, 
is of rude construction, and has at the back of it some few 
graves — perhaps of priests. In the back part is a very 
good Moorish arch, which they still show \vith admiration. 
The front proper has a big door, barred strongly, as if the 
church might have been in piratical times a place of refuge 
for the population up in the hills. To the right of the 
entrance is the tower, which is buttressed, and its spire is 
made of blue and colored tiles, which have thoroughly kept 
their colors. A bell in this tower may have rung the inhab- 
itants to church when Columbus announced that he meant 
to impress the Palos people to assist him in his voyage. I 
entered the church, which was all whitewashed, and felt, as 



COLUMBUS. 307 

I did at Rabida, that it was a better monument than I had 
reason to expect. 

Its walls were one yard thick, its floors of tiles laid in an 
L form. As I measured the floor it seemed to me to be 
sixty-six feet wide and sixty-six feet long, but to the length 
must be added the altar chapel, bringing it up to ninety 
feet, and to the width must be added the side chapels, 
making the total width about eighty feet. The nave has a 
sharper arched top than the two aisles, which have round 
arches. The height of the roof is about thirty-five feet. 
The big door by which I entered the church is fifteen feet 
high by eight feet wide. Some very odd settees which I 
coveted were in the nave. The chief feature, however, is 
the pulpit, which stands at the cross of the church, so that 
persons gathered in the transepts, nave, or aisles can hear 
the preacher. It has an iron pulpit of a round form spring- 
ing from one stem and railed in, and steps lead up to it 
which are inclosed. It looks old, and worn by human hands, 
and is supposed to be the identical pulpit from which the 
notary announced that, as a punishment of their offenses, 
the Queen's subjects must start with this unknown man 
upon his unknown venture. Those were high times in 
Palos, and it took Columbus a long while to get his expedi- 
tion ready, and special threats as of high treason had to be 
made against the heads of families and women. But when 
Columbus returned, and the same day Pinzon came back 
after their separation of weeks, Palos church was full of 
triumph and hosannas. The wild man had been successful, 
and Spain found another world than the apostle knew of. 

The grown boy, as he showed the building, went into an 
old lumber room, or dark closet, at one corner of the 
church, and when I was about to enter he motioned me 
back with his palm,, as if I might not enter there with my 
heretic feet. He then brought out an image of wood from 



308 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

four to five feet high, or, I might say, the full size of a young 
woman. It was plain that she had once been the Virgin 
worshiped here, but age and moisture had taken most of 
the color from her, and washed the gilt from her crown, 
and now we could only see that in her arm she bore a 
child, and this child held in its hand a dove or pigeon. 
The back of the female was hollow, and in there were 
driven hooks by which she had once been suspended at 
some height. This was the image, I clearly understood, 
which Columbus' men had knelt to when they were about 
to go forth upon the high seas. 

Strangely enough, the church is named St. George, and 
St. George was the patron saint of Genoa, where Columbus 
was born; and the Genoese who took the Crusaders to Jaffa 
had the satisfaction of seeing England annex their patron 
saint. 



The Rev. Luther Tracy Townsend, D.D., an American divine. 
Born at Orono, Maine, September 27, 1838. From " The Bible 

and the Nineteenth Century." 

When Luther in the sixteenth century brought the truths 
of the Bible from the convent of Erfurth, and gave them to 
the people, he roused to mental and moral life not only the 
slumbering German nationality, but gave inspiration to 
every other country in Europe. " Gutenburg with his 
printing press, Columbus with his compass, Galileo with his 
telescope, Shakspere with his dramas, and almost every 
other man of note figuring during those times, are grouped, 
not around some distinguished man of science, or man of 
letters, or man of mechanical genius, or man famous in 
war; but around that monk of Wittenberg, who stood with 
an unchained Bible in his hand." 



COLUMBUS. 809 

TESTIMONY OF A CONTEMPORARY AS TO THE TREATMENT 
OF COLUMBUS. 

From a letter of Angelo Trivigiano, of Granada, Spain, dated 
August I, 1501. 

I have seen so much of Columbus that we are now on a 
footing of great friendship. He is experiencing at present 
a streak of bad luck, being deprived of the King's favor, 
and with but little mone)''. 



THE VALPARAISO STATUE. 



At Valparaiso, Chili, a bronze statue of Columbus has 
been erected on a marble pedestal. The figure, which is 
of heroic size, stands in an advancing attitude, holding a 
cross in the right hand. 



COLUMBUS AND THE EGG. 

Dr. P. H. Van der Weyde. In an article in the Scientific Americati, 
June, i8g2. 

The stupid anecdote of the egg was a mere trifling 
invention, in fact a trick, and it is surprising that intelli- 
gent men have for so many years thoughtlessly been 
believing and repeating such nonsense. For my part, I 
can not believe that Columbus did ever lower himself so 
far as to compare the grand discovery to a trick. Surely 
it was no trick by which he discovered a new world, but it 
was the result of his earnest philosophical convictions 
that our earth is a globe, floating in space, and it could be 
circumnavigated by sailing westward, which most likely 
would lead to the discovery of new lands in the utterly 
unknown hemisphere beyond the western expanse of the 
great and boisterous Atlantic Ocean; while thus far no 
navigator ever had the courage to sad toward its then 
utterly unknown, apparently limitless, western expanse. 



310 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

THE MAN OF THE CHURCH. 

Padre Gioacchino Ventura, an eloquent Italian preacher and theo- 
logian. Born at Palermo, 1792; died at Versailles, August, 1S61. 

Columbus is the man of the Church. 



ATTENDANT FAME SHALL BLESS. 

The Venerable George Waddington, Dean of Durham, an English 
divine and writer. Died, July 20, i86g. From a poem read in 
Cambridge in 1813. 

And when in happier days one chain shall bind, 
One pliant fetter shall unite mankind; 
When war, when slav'ry's iron days are o'er, 
When discords cease and av'rice is no more, 
And with one voice remotest lands conspire, 
To hail our pure religion's seraph fire; 
Then fame attendant on the march of time, 
Fed by the incense of each favored clime, 
Shall bless the man whose heav'n-directed soul 
Form'd the vast chain which binds the mighty whole. 
******* 

Columbus continued till death eager to extend his dis- 
coveries, and by so doing to promote the glory of his 
persecutors. 



VANDERLYN S PICTURE AT WASHINGTON. 

The first of the eight pictures in the rotunda of the Capitol 
at Washington, D. C, and the first in point of event, is the 
"Landing of Columbus at San Salvador in 1492," by John 
Vanderlyn; its cost was $12,000. This picture represents 
the scene Washington Irving so admirably describes in his 
"Voyages of Columbus," occurring the morning the boats 
brought the little Spanish band from the ships to the shore 
of Guanahani. " Columbus first threw himself upon his 



COLUMBUS. 311 

knees; then, rising, drew his sword, displayed the royal 
standard, and, assembling around him tlie two captains, 
with Rodrigo de Escobedo, notary of the armament; Rod- 
rigo Sanchez (the royal inspector), and the rest who had 
landed, he took solemn possession of the island in the 
name of the Castilian sovereigns." The picture contains 
the picture of Columbus, the two Pinzons, Escobedo, all 
bearing standards; Sanchez, inspector; Diego de Arana, 
with an old-fashioned arquebus on his shoulder; a cabin- 
boy kneeling, a mutineer in a suppliant attitude, a sailor in 
an altitude of veneration for Columbus, a soldier whose 
attention is diverted by the appearance of the natives, and 
a friar bearing a crucifix. 



COLUMBUS STATUE AT WASHINGTON, D. C, 

The Columbus statue stands at the east-central portico 
of the Capitol, at Washington, D. C, above the south end 
of the steps, on an elevated block. It consists of a marble 
group, by Signor Persico, called " The Discovery," on 
which he worked five years, and is composed of two figures: 
Columbus holding the globe in his hand, triumphant, while 
beside him, wondering, almost terror-stricken, is a female 
figure, symbolizing the Indian race. The suit of armor 
worn by Columbus is said to be a faithful copy of one he 
actually wore. The group cost $24,000. 



THE WATLING S ISLAND MONUMENT RAISED BY THE CHICAGO 
" HERALD." 

With true Chicago enterprise, the wideawake Chicago 
Herald dispatched an expedition to the West Indies in 
1891 to search out the landing place of Columbus. The 
members of the party, after careful search and inquiry, 
erected a monument fifteen feet high on Watling's Island 
bearing the following inscription: 



312 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

ON THIS SPOT 

CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS 

FIRST SET FOOT ON THE SOIL OF THE NEW WORLD. 

Erected by 

The Chicago Herald^ 

June 15, 1891. 



COLUMBUS. 
FOR THE FESTIVAL AT HUELVA. 

A Castilla y d Leon 
Nuevo Mundo dib Colon. 

Theodore Watts, in the Athenceum (England). 

To Christ he cried to quell Death's deafening measure, 
Sung by the storm to Death's own chartless sea; 
To Christ he cried for glimpse of grass or tree 

When, hovering o'er the calm, Death watch'd at leisure; 

And when he showed the men, now dazed with pleasure, 
Faith's new world glittering star-like on the lee, 
"I trust that by the help of Christ," said he, 

" I presently shall light on golden treasure." 

What treasure found he? Chains and pains and sorrow. 
Yea, all the wealth those noble seekers find 
Whose footfalls mark the music of mankind. 

'Twas his to lend a life; 'twas man's to borrow; 

'Twas his to make, but not to share, the morrow. 
Who in love's memory lives this morn enshrined. 



WEST INDIAN STATUES. 



Cardenas, Cuba. — At Cardenas, Cuba, a statue by 
Figuer of Madrid has been erected by a Cuban lady, an 
authoress, and wife of a former governor. 

Cathedral of Havana, Cuba. — In the Cathedral of 




IVom Harper's \\ eeklj.—Copj right, 18SJ, bj Harper & Brotherf 

THE GENIUS OF GEOGRAPHY. 

On the New York Monument. 

(See page 244.) 



COLUMBUS. 313 

Havana there is a plain marble bas-relief, about four feet 
high, representing in a medallion a very apocryphal portrait 
of Columbus, with an inscription as follows: 

restos e Ymajen del grande Colon! 
Mil siglos durad guai-dados en la urna 
Y en la reniembranza de mwstra N'acion. 

(O remains and image of the great Columbus! 

For a thousand ages endure guarded within this urn 

And in the remembrance of our nation.) 

Proposed Tomb — Havana Cathedral. — In February, 
1891, by royal decree, all Spanish artists were invited to 
compete for a design for a sepulcher in which to preserve 
the Havana remains of Columbus; several were submitted 
to a jury, who awarded the first prize to Arthur Melida, 
with a premium of $5,000. 

The sepulcher is now being erected in the cathedral. 
The design represents a bier covered with a heavily 
embroidered pall, borne upon the shoulders of four heralds, 
in garments richly carved to resemble lace and embroidered 
work. The two front figures bear scepters surmounted by 
images of the Madonna and St. James, the patron saint of 
Spain. On the front of their garments are the arms of 
Castille and Leon. 

The two bearers represent Aragon and Navarre, the 
former being indicated by four red staffs on a gold field, and 
the fourth has gold-linked chains on a red field. The group 
is supported on a pedestal ornamented about its edge with 
a Greek fret. 

Havana, Cuba. — In the court-yard of the Captain-Gen- 
eral's palace, in Havana, is a full-length iigure of Colum- 
bus, the face modeled after accepted portraits at Madrid. 

Havana, Cuba. — In the inclosure of the "Templete," 
the little chapel on the site of which the first mass was 



314 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

celebrated in Cuba, there is a bust of Columbus which has 
the solitary merit of being totally unlike all others. 

Nassau. — At Nassau, in the Bahamas, a statue of Chris- 
topher Columbus stands in front of Government House. 
The statue, which is nine feet high, is placed upon a ped- 
estal six feet in altitude, on the north or seaward face of 
which is inscribed: 

COLUMBUS, 1492. 

It was presented to the colony by Sir James Carmichael 
Smyth, Governor of the Bahamas, 1 829-1 833, was modeled 
in London in 183 1, is made of metal and painted white, 
and was erected May, 1832. 

Santo Domingo Cathedral. — Above the boveda, or 
vault, in the Cathedral of Santo Domingo, from which the 
remains of Columbus were taken in 1877, is a marble slab 
with the following: 

Reposaron en este sUio los restos de Don Cristobal Colon el 
celebre descrubridor del Nuevo Mundo, desde el ano de 
1536, en que fiieron trasladados de Espafla^ hasta el 10 de 
Setiembre 1877, en que se desenterraron para constatar suauten- 
ticidad. Y d poster idad la dedica el Presbitero Bill int. 

(There reposed in this place the remains of Christopher 
Columbus, the celebrated discoverer of the New World, 
from the year 1536, in which they were transferred from 
Spain, until the loth September, 1877, in which year they 
were disinterred for the purpose of identification. Dedi- 
cated to posterity by Padre Billini) (curate in charge when 
the vault was opened.) 

In the cathedral there is also preserved a large cross of 
mahogany, rough and uneven, as though hewn with an adze 
out of a log, and then left in the rough. This, it is claimed, 
is the cross made by Columbus and erected on the opposite 
bank of the Ozama River, where the first settlement in the 



COLUMBUS. 315 

West Indies was made. In a little room by itself they keep 
a leaden casket, which Santo Domingoans claim contains 
the bones of Christopher Columbus, and, in another, those 
of his brother. 

Plaza of Santo Domingo. — Humboldt once wrote that 
America could boast of no worthy monument to its discov- 
erer, but since his time many memorials have been erected, 
not only in the New World, but the Old. In the plaza 
in front of the cathedral, in the city of Santo Domingo, 
stands a statue, heroic, in bronze, representing Columbus 
pointing to the westward. Crouched at his feet is the 
figure of a female Indian, supposed to be the unfortunate 
Anacaona, the caciquess of Xaragua, tracing an inscription: 

Yllustre y Esclarecido Varon Don Cristoval Colon. 

The statue was cast in France, a few years ago, and 
stands in the center of the plaza, in front of the cathedral. 



COLUMBUS LORD NORTH's "bIiTE NOIR." 

Edwin Percy Whipple, a distinguished American critic and essayist. 
Born at Gloucester, Mass., i8ig; died, June i6, 1886. 

Lord North more than once humorously execrated the 
memory of Columbus for discovering a continent which 
gave him and his ministry so much trouble. 



hardy mariners have become great heroes. 

Daniel Appleton White, a distinguislied American jurist and scholar. 
Born at Lawrence, Mass., June 7, 1776; died, March 30, 1861. 

Hardy seamen, too, who have spent their days in conflict 
with the storms of the ocean, have found means to make 
themselves distinguished in science and literature, as well 
as by achievements in their profession. The life of Colum- 
bus gloriously attests this fact. 



31G COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

TASSO'S TRIBUTE IN ENGLISH SPENSERIAN STANZA. 

Jeremiah Holmes Wiffen, an English writer and translator. Born 
at Woburn, 1792. Many years librarian and private secretary to 
the Duki of Bedford. Died, 1836. From his translation of Tasso's 
"Jerusalem Delivered" (1830). {See an h', Tasso.) 

CANTO XV. 

XXX. 

The time shall come when ship-boys e'en shall scorn 

To have Alcides' fable on their lips, 
Seas yet unnamed and realms unknown adorn 

Your charts, and with their fame your pride eclipse; 

Then the bold Argo of all future ships 
Shall circumnavigate and circle sheer 

Whate'er blue Tethys in her girdle clips, 
Victorious rival of the sun's career, 
And measure e'en of earth the whole stupendous sphere. 

XXXI. 

A Genoese knight shall first the idea seize 

And, full of faith, the untracked abyss explore. 

No raving winds, inhospitable seas. 

Thwart planets, dubious calms, or billows' roar. 
Nor whatso'er of risk or toil may more 

Terrific show or furiously assail, 

Shall make that mighty mind of his give o'er 

The wonderful adventure, or avail 

In close Abyla's bounds his spirit to impale. 

XXXII. 

'Tis thou, Columbus, in new zones and skies. 
That to the wind thy happy sails must raise, 

Till fame shall scarce pursue thee with her eyes. 
Though she a thousand eyes and wings displays; 
Let her of Bacchus and Alcides praise 

The savage feats, and do thy glory wrong 



COLUMBUS. 317 

With a few whispers tossed to after days; 
These shall suffice to make thy memory long 
In history's page endure, or some divinest song. 



NOAH AND COLUMBUS. 

Emma Hart Willard, an American teacher and educational writer. 
Born at Berlin, Conn., 1787; died, 1870. 

Since the time when Noah left the ark to set his foot 
upon a recovered world, a landing so sublime as that of 
Columbus had never occurred. 



A GRAND PROPHETIC VISION. 

The Rev. Elhanan Winchester, an American divine. Born at Brook- 
line, Mass., 1751; died, 1797. From an oration delivered in Lon- 
don, October 12, 1792, the 300th anniversary of the landing of 
Columbus in the New World. The orator, previous to a call to a 
pastorate in London, had lived many years in America, being at 
one time pastor of a large church in the city of Philadelphia. This 
oration should be prized, so to speak, for its " ancient simplicity." 
It is a relic of the style used in addresses one hundred years ago. 

I have for some years had it upon my mind that if Prov- 
idence preserved my life to the close of the third century 
from the discovery of America by Columbus, that I would 
celebrate that great event by a public discourse upon the 
occasion. 

And although I sincerely wish that some superior genius 
would take up the subject and treat it with the attention that 
it deserves, yet, conscious as I am of my own inability, I am 
persuaded that America has not a warmer friend in the 
world than myself. 

The discovery of America by Columbus was situated, in 
point of time, between two great events, which have caused 
it to be much more noticed, and have rendered it far more 
important than it would otherwise have been. I mean the 



318 - COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

art of pi i/ifing, which was discovered about the year 1440, and 
which has been and will be of infinite use to mankind, and 
t/ie Reforttiation from popery, which began about the year 
1517, the effects of which have already been highly benefi- 
cial in a political as well as in a religious point of view, 
and will continue and increase. 

These three great events — the art of printing^ the discovery 
of America^ and the Refonnatioti — followed each other in 
quick succession; and, combined together, have already 
produced much welfare and happiness to mankind, and cer- 
tainly will produce abundance more. 

By the discovery of America there was much room given 
to the inhabitants of the Old World; an asylum was prepared 
for the persecuted of all nations to fly to for safety, and a 
grand theater was erected where Liberty might safely lift 
up her standard, and triumph over all the foes of freedom. 
America may be called the very birthplace of civil and religious 
liberty, which had never been known to mankind until since 
the discovery of that country. 

But the importance of the discovery will appear greater 
and greater every year, and one century to come will 
improve America far more than the three centuries past. 

The prospect opens; it extends itself upon us. " The 
wilderness and solitary place shall rejoice, the desert shall 
rejoice and blossom as the rose." I look forward to that 
glorious era when that vast continent shall be fully popu- 
lated with civilized and religious people; when heavenly 
wisdom and virtue, and all that can civilize, adorn, and 
bless the children of men, shall cover that part of the globe 
as the waters cover the seas. 

Transported at the thought, I am borne forward to days 
of distant renown. In my expanded view, the United 
States rise in all their ripened glory before me. I look 



COLUMBUS. 319 

through and beyond every yet peopled region of the New 
World, and behold period still brightening upon period. 
Where one contiguous depth of gloomy wilderness now 
shuts out even the beams of day, I see new states and 
empires, new seats of wisdom and knowledge, new religious 
domes, spreading around. In places now untrod by any 
but savage beasts, or men as savage as they, I hear the 
voice of happy labor, and behold beautiful cities rising to 
view. 

Lo, in this happy picture, I behold the native Indian 
exulting in the works of peace and civilization; his bloody 
hatchet he buries deep under ground, and his murderous 
knife he turns into a pruning fork, to lop the tender vine 
and teach the luxuriant shoot to grow. No more does he 
form to himself a heaven after death (according to the 
poet), in company with his faithful dog, behmd the cloud- 
topped hill, to enjoy solitary quiet, far from the haunts of 
faithless men; but, better instructed by Christianity, he 
views his everlasting inheritance — "a house not made with 
hands, eternal in the heavens." 

Instead of recounting to his offspring, round the blazing 
fire, the bloody exploits of their ancestors, and wars of 
savage death, showing barbarous exultation over every 
deed of human woe, methinks I hear him pouring forth his 
eulogies of praise, in memory of those who were the instru- 
ments of heaven in raising his tribes from darkness to 
light, in giving them the blessings of civilized life, and 
converting them from violence and blood to meekness and 
love. 

Behold the whole continent highly cultivated and fertil- 
ized, full of cities, towns, and villages, beautiful and lovely 
beyond expression. I hear the praises of my great Cre- 
ator sung upon the banks of those rivers unknown to song. 
Behold the delightful prospect! see the silver and gold of 



320 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

America employed in the service of the Lord of the whole 
earth! See slavery, with all its train of attendant evil, for- 
ever abolished! See a communication opened through the 
whole continent, from north to south, and from east to west, 
through a most fruitful country! Behold the glory of God 
extending, and the gospel spreading, through the whole 
land! 

O my native country! though I am far distant from thy 
peaceful shores, which probably mine eyes may never more 
behold, yet I can never forget thee. May thy great Cre- 
ator bless thee, and make thee a happy land, while thy 
rivers flow and thy mountains endure. And, though He 
has spoken nothing plainly in His word concernmg thee, 
yet has he blest thee abundantly, and given thee good 
things in possession, and a prospect of more glorious 
things in time to come. His name shall be known, feared, 
and loved through all thy western regions, and to the 
utmost bounds of thy vast extensive continent. 

America! land of liberty, peace, and plenty, in thee I 
drew my first breath, in thee all my kindred dwell. I 
beheld thee in thy lowest state, crushed down under mis- 
fortunes, struggling with poverty, war, and disgrace. I 
have lived to behold thee free and independent, rising to 
glory and extensive empire, blessed with all the good 
things of this life, and a happy prospect of better things to 
come. I can say, " Lord, now lettest thou thy servant 
depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation," 
which thou hast made known to my native land, in the 
sight, and to the astonishment, of all the nations of the 
earth. 

1 die; but God will surely visit America, and make it a 
vast flourishing and extensive empire; will take it under 
His protection, and bless it abundantly — but the prospect 
is too glorious for my pen to describe. I add no more. 




From Harper's Weekly.— Copyright, 1892, by Harper & Brothers. 

EAGLE CLASPING AMERICAN AND GENOESE SHIELDS. 

On the New York Monument. 

(See page 244.) 



COLUMBUS. 



321 



DE MORTUIS, NIL NISI BONUM. 
JUSTIN WiNsoR.a celebrated American critical historiai^. Born, 1831 
No man craves more than Columbus to be judged with 
all the palliations demanded of his own age and ours It 
would have been well for his memory if he had died when 
his master work was done 

„• * * * * ' * * * * * 

His discovery was a blunder; his blunder was a new 
world; the New World is his monument. 

ON A PORTRAIT OF COLUMBUS. 
GEORGE E. WooDBERRV, in the Century Magazine. May. 1892. By per- 
mission of the author and the Century Company. 
Was this his face, and these the finding eyes 

That plucked a new world from the rolling seas' 
Who serving Christ, whom most he sought to please, 
Willed his one thought until he saw arise 
Man's other home and earthly paradise— 
His early vision, when with stalwart knees 
He pushed the boat from his young olive trees 
And sailed to wrest the secret of the skies? 

He on the waters dared to set his feet 
And through believing planted earth's last race " 

What faith in man must in our new world beat, 
Thinking how once he saw before his face 

The west and all the host of stars retreat 
Into the silent infinite of space. 

GREATEST ACHIEVEMENT 

JOSEPH EMERSON WORCESTER, a Celebrated American lexicographer. 

Born at Bedford, N. H., 1758; died, 1S65 

Of 'th! f '?'"'' '^ ^'"'"■"''^ ''^^ '^' ^''''''' achievement 
of the^kind ever performed by man; and, considered in 



322 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

connection with its consequences, it is tlie greatest event 
of modern times. It served to wake up the unprecedented 
spirit of enterprise; it opened new sources of wealth, and 
exerted a powerful influence on commerce by greatly 
increasing many important articles of trade, and also by 
bringing into general use others before unknown; by lead- 
ing to the discovery of the rich mines of this continent, it 
has caused the quantity of the precious metals in circula- 
tion throughout the world to be exceedingly augmented; it 
also gave anew impulse to colonization, and prepared the 
way for the advantages of civilized life and the blessings 
of Christianity to be extended over vast regions which 
before were the miserable abodes of barbarism and pagan 

idolatry. . 

The man to whose genius and enterprise the world is 
indebted for this discovery was Christopher Columbus of 
Genoa. He conceived that in order to complete the 
balance of the terraqueous globe another continent neces- 
sarily existed, which might be reached by sailing to the 
west from Europe; but he erroneously connected it with 
India. Being persuaded of the truth of his theory, his 
adventurous spirit made him eager to verify it by experi- 
ment. 

THE FATE OF DISCOVERERS. 

It is remarkable how few of the eminent men of the 
discoverers and conquerors of the New World died in peace. 
Columbus died broken-hearted; Roldan and Bobadilla 
were drowned; Ojeda died in extreme poverty; Encisco 
was deposed by his own men; Nicuesa perished miserably 
by the cruelty of his party; Balboa was disgracefully 
beheaded; Narvaez was imprisoned in a tropical dungeon, 
and afterward died of hardship; Cortez was dishonored; 
Alvarado was destroyed in ambush; Pizarro was murdered. 



COLUMBUS. 323 

and his four brothers cut off; Sir Walter Raleigh was 
beheaded by an ungrateful king; the noble and adventur- 
ous Robert La Salle, the explorer of the Mississippi Val- 
ley, was murdered by his mutinous crew; Sir Martin 
Frobisher died of a wound received at Brest; Sir Hum- 
phrey Gilbert, Raleigh's noble half-brother, ''as near to 
God by sea as by land," sank with the crew of the little 
Squirrel in the deep green surges of the North Atlantic; 
Sir Francis Drake, "the terror of the Spanish main," and 
the explorer of the coast of California, died of disease near 
Puerto Bello, in 1595. The frozen wilds of the North 
hold the bones of many an intrepid explorer. Franklin 
and Bellot there sleep their last long sleep. The bleak 
snow-clad tuuJia of the Lena delta saw the last moments 
of the gallant De Long. Afric's burning sands have wit- 
nessed many a martyrdom to science and religion. Livings- 
ton, Hannington, Gordon, Jamieson, and Barttelot are 
golden names on the ghastly roll. Australia's scrub-oak 
and blue-gum plains have contributed their quota of the 
sad and sudden deaths on the earth-explorers' roll. 



Columbus and Columbia. 



COLUMBIA. 

Hail, Columbia! happy land! 
Hail, ye heroes! heaven-born band! 

Joseph Hopkinson, 1 770-1842. 

And ne'er shall the sons of Columbia be slaves, 

While the earth bears a plant, or the sea rolls its waves. 

Robert l^eat Paine, 1772-1811. 

Columbia, Columbia, to glory arise, 
The queen of the world, and child of the skies! 
Thy genius commands thee; with rapture behold 
While ages on ages thy splendors unfcld. 

Timothy Dzvight, 1752-1817. 



COLUMBIA. 



AMERICAN FUTURITY. 

John Adams, second President of the United States. Born October ig, 
1735; died July 4, 1826. 

A prospect into futurity in America is like contemplating 
the heavens through the telescopes of Herschel. Objects 
stupendous in their magnitudes and motions strike us from 
all quarters, and fill us with amazement. 



AMERICA THE OLD WORLD. 

Louis Jean Rodolphe Agassiz, the distinguished naturalist. Born in 
Motier, near the Lake of Neufchatel, Switzerland, in 1807; died 
at Cambridge, Mass., December 14, 1873. From his " Geo- 
logical Sketches." By permission of Messrs. Houghton, Mifflin 
& Co., Publishers, Boston. 

First-born among the continents, though so much later 
in culture and civilization than some of more recent birth, 
America, so far as her physical history is concerned, has 
been falsely denominated the New World. Hers was the 
first dry land lifted out of the waters, hers the first shore 
washed by the ocean that enveloped all the earth beside; 
and while Europe was represented only by islands rising 
here and there above the sea, America already stretched 
an unbroken line of land from Nova Scotia to the far West. 



COLUMBIA S UNGUARDED GATES. 

Thomas Bailey Aldrich, in July Atlantic. 

Wide open and unguarded stand our gates. 

Named of the four winds — north, south, east, and west; 

(827) 



338 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

Portals that lead to an enchanted land 

Of cities, forests, fields of living gold, 

Vast prairies, lordly summits touched with snow, 

Majestic rivers sweeping proudly past. 

The Arab's date-palm and the Norseman's pine — 

A realm wherein are fruits of every zone, 

Airs of all climes, for lo! throughout the year 

The red ros5 blossoms somewhere — a rich land, 

A later Eden planted in the wilds. 

With not an inch of earth within its bound 

But if a slave's foot press it sets him free. 

Here it is written Toil shall have its wage, 

And Honor honor, and the humblest man 

Stand level with the highest in the law. 

Of such a land have men in dungeons dreamed. 

And with the vision brightening in their eyes 

Gone smiling to the faggot and the sword. 

Wide open and unguarded stand our gates. 
And through them presses a wild, motley throng — 
Men from the Volga and the Tartar steppes. 
Featureless figures of the Hoang-Ho, 
Malayan, Scythian, Teuton, Kelt, and Slav, 
Flying the Old World's poverty and scorn; 
These bringing with them unknown gods and rites, 
Those, tiger passions, here to stretch their claws. 
In street and alley what strange tongues are these, 
Accents of menace alien to our air, 
Voices that once the Tower of Babel knew. 
O Liberty, white Goddess! is it well 
To leave the gates unguarded? On thy breast 
Fold Sorrow's children, soothe the hurts of fate, 
Lift the down-trodden, but with hand of steel 
Stay those who to thy sacred portals come 




From Harper's WVekl 



PART OF COLUMBUS STATUE, NEW YORK MONUMENT. 
( See page 244.) 



COLUMBIA. 329 

To waste the gifts of freedom. Have a care • 
Lest from thy brow the clustered stars be torn 
And trampled in the dust. For so of old 
The thronging Goth and Vandal trampled Rome, 
And where the temples of the Caesars stood, 
The lean wolf unmolested made her lair. 



ONE VAST WESTERN CONTINENT. 

Sir Edwin Arnold, C. S. I., an English poet and journalist. Born, 
June ID, 1832. 

I reserve as the destiny of these United States the con- 
trol of all the lands to the south, of the whole of the South 
American continent. Petty troubles will die away, and all 
will be yours. In South America alone there is room for 
500,000,000 more people. Some day it will have that many, 
and all will acknowledge the government at Washington. 
We in England will not grudge you this added power. It 
is rightfully yours. With the completion of the canal across 
the Isthmus of Nicaragua you must have control of it, and 
of all the surrounding Egypt of the New World. 



THE RISING OF THE WESTERN STAR. 

(anonymous.) 
Land of the mighty! through the nations 

Thy fame shall live and travel on; 
And all succeeding generations 

Shall bless the name of Washington. 
While year by year new triumphs bringing. 
The sons of Freedom shall be singing — 
Ever happy, ever free. 
Land of light and liberty. 

Columbus, on his dauntless mission, 
Beheld his lovely isle afar; 



330 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

Did he not see, in distant vision, 

The rising of this western star — 
This queen, who now, in state befitting, 
Between two ocean floods is sitting? 
Ever happy, ever free, 
Land of light and liberty. 



THE AMERICAN FLAG. 

Henry Ward Beecher, a distinguished American writer and preacher. 
Born in Litchfield, Conn., June 24, 1813; died, March 8, 1887, 
in Brooklyn, N. Y. From his " Patriotic Addresses." By permis- 
sion of Messrs. Fords, Howard & Hulbert, Publishers, New York. 

When a man of thoughtful mind sees a nation's flag, he 
sees not the flag only, but the nation itself; and whatever 
may be its symbols, he reads chiefly in the flag the gov- 
ernment, the principles, the truth, the history, which belong 
to the nation which sets it forth. When the French tri- 
color rolls out to the wind, we see France. When the new- 
found Italian flag is unfurled, we see Italy restored. When 
the other three-cornered Hungarian flag shall be lifted to 
the wind, we shall see in it the long-buried, but never dead, 
principles of Hungarian liberty. When the united crosses 
of St. Andrew and St. George on a fiery ground set forth 
the banner of old England, we see not the cloth merely; 
there rises up before the mind the noble aspect of that 
monarchy which, more than any other on the globe, has 
advanced its banner for liberty, law, and national pros- 
perity. This nation has a banner, too, and wherever it 
streamed abroad men saw daybreak bursting on their eyes, 
for the American flag has been the symbol of liberty, and 
men rejoiced in it. Not another flag on the globe had 
such an errand, or went forth upon the seas carrying 
everywhere, the world around, such hope for the captive 
and such glorious tidings. The stars upon it were to the 



COLUMBIA. 331 

pining nations like the morning stars of God, and the 
stripes upon it were beams of morning light. As at early 
dawn the stars stand first, and then it grows light, and 
then, as the sun advances, that light breaks into banks and 
streaming lines of color, the glowing red and intense white 
striving together and ribbing the horizon with bars efful- 
gent, so on the American flag stars and beams of many- 
colored lights shine out together. And wherever the flag 
comes, and men behold it, they see in its sacred embla- 
zonry no rampant lion and fierce eagle, but only light, and 
every fold indicative of liberty. It has been unfurled 
from the snows of Canada to the plains of New Orleans; 
in the halls of the Montezumas and amid the solitude of 
every sea; and everywhere, as the luminous symbol of 
resistless and beneficent power, it has led the brave to vic- 
tory and to glory. It has floated over our cradles; let it 
be our prayer and our struggle that it shall float over our 
graves. 



NATIONAL SELF-RESPECT. 

Nathaniel S. S. Beman, an American Presbyterian divine. Born in 
New Lebanon, N. Y.. 1785; died at Carbondale, III., August 8, 
1871. For forty years pastor of the First Presbyterian Cliurch, 
Troy, N. Y. 

The western continent has, at different periods, been the 
subject of every species of transatlantic abuse. In former 
days, some of the naturalists of Europe told us that every- 
thing here was constructed upon a small scale. The 
frowns of nature were represented as investing the whole 
hemisphere we inhabit. It has been asserted that the 
eternal storms which are said to beat upon the brows of 
our mountains, and to roll the tide of desolation at their 
bases; the hurricanes which sweep our vales, and the vol- 
canic fires which issue from a thousand flaming craters; the 



332 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

thunderbolts which perpetually descend from heaven, and 
the earthquakes, whose trepidations are felt to the very 
center of our globe, have superinduced a degeneracy 
through all the productions of nature. Men have been 
frightened into intellectual dwarfs, and the beasts of the 
forest have not attained more than half their ordinary 
growth. 

While some of the lines and touches of this picture have 
been blotted out by the reversing hand of time, others have 
been added, which have, in some respects, carried the con- 
ceit still farther. In later days, and, in some instances, 
even down to the present period, it has been published and 
republished from the enlightened presses of the Old World, 
that so strong is the tendency to deterioration on i.his con- 
tinent that the descendants of European ancestors are far 
inferior to the original stock from which they sprang. But 
inferior in what? In national spirit and patriotic achieve- 
ment? Let the revolutionary conflict — the opening scenes 
at Boston and the catastrophe at Yorktown — furnish the 
reply. Let Bennington and Saratoga support their 
respective claims. Inferior in enterprise? Let the sail that 
whitens every ocean, and the commercial spirit that braves 
every element and visits every bustling mart, refute the 
unfounded aspersion. Inferior in deeds of zeal and valor 
for the Church? Let our missionaries in the bosom of our 
own forest, in the distant regions of the East, and on the 
islands of the great Pacific, answer the question. Inferior 
in science and letters and the arts? It is true our nation 
is young; but we may challenge the world to furnish a 
national maturity which, in these respects, will compare 
with ours. 

The character and institutions of this country have 
already produced a deep impression upon the world we 
inhabit. What but our example has stricken the chains of 



COLUMBIA. 333 

despotism from the provinces of South America — giving, 
by a single impulse, freedom to half a hemisphere? A 
Washington here has created a Bolivar there. The flag of 
independence, which has waved from the summit of our 
Alleghany, has now been answered by a corresponding sig- 
nal from the heights of the Andes. And the same spirit, 
too, that came across the Atlantic wave with the Pilgrims, 
and made the rock of Plymouth the corner-stone of free- 
dom, and of this republic, is traveling back to the East. It 
has already carried its influence into the cabinets of 
princes, and it is at this moment sung by the Grecian bard 
and emulated by the Grecian hero. 



COLUMBIA — A PROPHECY. 
St. George Best. In Kate Field's WasJiington. 

Puissant land! where'er I turn my eyes 

I see thy banner strewn upon the breeze; 
Each past achievement only prophesies 

Of triumphs more unheard of. These 
Are shadows yet, but time will write thy name 

In letters golden as the sun 
That blazed upon the sight of those who came 

To worship in the temple of the Delphic One. 



THE FINAL STAGE. 

Henry Hugh Brackenridge, a writer and politician. Born near 
Campbellton, Scotland, 1748; died, 1S16. From his "Rising 
Glory of America," a commencement poem. 

This is thy praise, America, thy power. 
Thou best of climes by science visited, 
By freedom blest, and richly stored with all 
The luxuries of life! Hail, happy land. 
The seat of empire, the abode of kings, 



334 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

The final stage where time shall introduce 
Renowned characters, and glorious works 
Of high invention and of wondrous art, 
Which not the ravages of time shall waste, 
'Till he himself has run his long career! 



BRIGHT S BEATIFIC VISION. 

The Right Honorable John Bright, the celebrated English orator and 
radical statesman. Born at Greenbank, Rochdale, Lancashire, 
November i6, i8ii; died, March 27, 1889, From a speech 
delivered at Birmingham, England, 1862. 

I have another and a far brighter vision before my gaze. 
It may be but a vision, but I will cherish it. I see one 
vast confederation stretching from the frozen North in 
unbroken line to the glowing South, and from the wild 
billows of the Atlantic westward to the calmer waters of 
the Pacific main; and I see one people and one language, 
and one faith and one law, and, over all that wide conti- 
nent, the home of freedom, and a refuge for the oppressed 
of every race and every clime. 



BROTHERS ACROSS THE SEA. 

Elizabeth Barrett Browning, one of the most gifted female poets. 
Born near Ledbury, Herefordshire, England, in 1807; died at Flor- 
ence, Italy, in June, 1861. 

I heard an angel speak last night. 

And he said, "Write — 
Write a nation's curse for me. 
And send it over the western sea." 
I faltered, taking up the word: 
"Not so, my lord! 
If curses must be, choose another 
To send thy curse against my brother. 



COLUMBIA. 335 

For I am bound by gratitude, 

By love and blood, 
To brothers of mine across the sea, 
Who stretch out kindly hands to me." 
''Therefore," the voice said, " shalt thou write 

My curse to-night; 
From the summits of love a curse is driven, 
As lightning is from the tops of heaven." 



THE GRANDEUR OF DESTINY. 

William Cullen Bryant, an eminent American poet. Born at C'um- 
mington, Mass., November 3, 1794; died, June 12, 1878. 
Oh, Mother of a mighty race. 
Yet lovely in thy youthful grace! 
The elder dames, thy haughty peers, 
Admire and hate thy blooming years; 

With words of shame 
And taunts of scorn they join thy name. 

They know not, in their hate and pride, 
What virtues with thy children bide; 
How true, how good, thy graceful maids 
Make bright, like flowers, the valley shades; 

What generous men 
Spring, like thine oaks, by hill and glen; 

What cordial welcomes greet the guest 
By the lone rivers of the West; 
How faith is kept, and truth revered, 
And man is loved, and God is feared. 

In woodland homes. 
And where the solemn ocean foams. 

Oh, fair young Mother! on thy brow 
Shall sit a nobler grace than now. 



330 COLUMBUS AND COLUMP.IA. 

Deep in the brightness of thy skies, 
The thronging years in glory rise, 

And, as they fleet. 
Drop strength and riches at thy feet. 



AMERICAN NATIONAL HASTE. 

James Bryce, M. P. Born at Belfast, Ireland, May lO, 1838. 
Appointed Regius Professor of Civil Law to the University of 
Oxfo.d, England, 1870. From his " American Commonwealth." 

Americans seem to live in the future rather than in the 
present; not that they fail to work while it is called to-day, 
but that they see the country, not merely as it is, but as it 
will be twenty, fifty, a hundred years hence, when the seed- 
lings shall have grown to forest trees. Time seems too 
brief for what they have to do, and result always to come 
short of their desire. One feels as if caught and whirled 
along in a foaming stream chafing against its banks, such is 
the passion of these men to accomplish in their own life- 
times what in the past it took centuries to effect. Some- 
times, in a moment of pause — for even the visitor finds him- 
self infected by the all-pervading eagerness — one is inclined 
to ask them: "Gentlemen, why in heaven's name this 
haste? You have time enough. No enemy threatens 
you. No volcano will rise from beneath you. Ages 
and ages lie before you. Why sacrifice the present to 
the future, fancying that you will be happier when your 
fields teem with wealth and your cities with people? In 
Europe we have cities wealthier and more populous than 
yours, and we are not happy. You dream of your posterity; 
but your posterity will look back to yours as the golden 
age, and envy those who first burst into this silent, splen- 
did nature, who first lifted up their a.ves upon these tall 
trees, and lined these waters with busy wharves. Why, then, 




uj £ 



< S — 

Q 2 „ 

CO S. » 



COLUMBIA. 337 

seek to complete in a few decades what the other nations 
of the world took thousands of years over in the older 
continents? Why do rude.y and ill things which need to 
be done well, seeing that the welfare of your descendants 
may turn upon them? Why, in your hurry to subdue and 
utilize nature, squander her splendid gifts? Why allow the 
noxious weeds of Eastern politics to take root in your new 
soil, when by a little effort you might keep it pure? Why 
hasten the advent of that threatening day when the vacant 
spaces of the continent shall all have been filled, and the 
poverty or discontent of the older States shall find no out- 
let? You have opportunities such as mankind has never had 
before, and may never have again. Your work is great and 
noble; it is done for a future longer and vaster than our 
conceptions can embrace. Why not make its outlines and 
beginnings worthy of these destinies, the thought of which 
gilds your hopes and elevates your purposes? " 



AMERICA S UNPRECEDENTED GROWTH. 

Edmund Burke, an illustrious orator, statesman, and philanthropist. 
Born in Dublin, 1730; died, July 9, 1797. To Burke's eternal 
credit and renown be it said, that, had his advice and counsels been 
listened to, the causes which produced the American Revolution 
would have been removed. 

I can not prevail on myself to hurry over this great con- 
sideration — the value of America to England. It is good 
for us to be here. We stand where we have an immense 
view of what is, and what is past. Clouds, indeed, and 
darkness, rest upon the future. Let us, however, before 
we descend from this noble eminence, reflect that this growth 
of our national prosperity has happened within the short 
period of the life of man. It has happened within sixty- 
eight years. There are those alive whose memory might 
touch the two extremities. For instance, my Lord Bathurst 
22 



338 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

might remember all the stages of the progress. He was, 
in 1704, of an age, at least, to be made to comprehend 
such things. Suppose that the angel of this auspicious 
youth, foreseeing the many virtues which made him one of 
the most amiable, as he is one of the most fortunate, men 
of his age, had opened to him in vision, that when, in the 
fourth generation, the third prince of the house of Bruns- 
wick had sat twelve years on the throne of that nation, 
which by the happy issue of moderate and healing councils 
was to be made Great Britain, he should see his son. Lord 
Chancellor of England, turn back the current of hereditary 
dignity to its fountain, and raise him to a higher rank of 
peerage, whilst he enriched the family with a new one. If 
amidst these bright and happy scenes of domestic honor 
and prosperity that angel should have drawn up the curtain 
and unfolded the rising glories of his country; and, whilst 
he was gazing with admiration on the then commercial 
grandeur of England, the genius should point out to him a 
little speck, scarce visible in the mass of the national inter- 
est, a small seminal principle, rather than a formed body, 
and should tell him, " Young man, there is America, which 
at this day serves for little more than to amuse you with 
stories of savage men and uncouth manners; yet shall, 
before you taste of death, show itself equal to the whole 
of that commerce which now attracts the envy of the world. 
Whatever England has been growing to by a progressive 
increase of improvement, brought in by varieties of people, 
by succession of civilizing conquests and civilizing settle- 
ments in a series of 1,700 years, you shall see as much 
added to her by America in the course of a single life! " 
If this state of his country had been foretold to him, would 
it not have required all the sanguine credulity of youth, 
and all the fervid glow of enthusiasm, to make him believe 
it? Fortunate man, he has lived to see it! Fortunate, 



COLUMBIA. 339 

indeed, if he live to see nothing to vary the prospect, and 
cloud the setting of his day! 



AMERICA THE CONTINENT OF THE FUTURE. 

Emilio Castelar, one of Spain's most noted orators and statesmen. 
His masterly articles on Columbus in the Century Magazine alone 
would insure an international reputation. From a speech in the 
Spanish Cortes, 1871. 

America, and especially Saxon America, with its immense 
virgin territories, with its republic, with its equilibrium 
between stability and progress, with its harmony between 
liberty and democracy, is the continent of the future — the 
immense continent stretched by God between the Atlantic 
and Pacific, where mankind may plant, essay, and resolve 
all social problems. Europe has to decide whether she will 
confound herself with Asia, placing upon her lands old 
altars, and upon the altars old idols, and upon the idols 
immovable theocracies, and upon the theocracies despotic 
empires; or whether she will go by labor, by liberty, and by 
the republic, to co-operate with America in the grand work 
of universal civilization. 



NOBLE CONCEPTIONS. 

William Ellery Channing, D. D., a distinguished American Uni- 
tarian divine, and one of the most eloquent writers America has 
produced. Born at Newport, R. I., April 7, 1780; died, October 
2, 1842. From an address on " The Annexation of Texas to the 
United States." 

When we look forward to the probable growth of this 
country; when we think of the millions of human beings 
who are to spread over our present territory; of the 
career of improvement and glory opened to this new peo- 
ple; of the impulse which free institutions, if prosperous, 
may be expected to give to philosophy, religion, science, 



340 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

literature, and arts; of the vast field in which the experi- 
ment is to be made; of what the unfettered powers of man 
may achieve; of the bright page of history which our 
fathers have filled, and of the advantages under which 
their toils and virtues have placed us for carrying on their 
work. When we think of all this, can we help, for a moment, 
surrendering ourselves to bright visions of our country's 
glory, before which all the glories of the past are to fade away? 
Is it presumption to say that if just to ourselves and all 
nations we shall be felt through this whole continent; that 
we shall spread our language, institutions, and civilization 
through a wider space than any nation has yet filled with a 
like beneficent influence? And are we prepared to barter 
these hopes, this sublime moral empire, for conquests by 
force? Are we prepared to sink to the level of unprinci- 
pled nations; to content ourselves with a vulgar, guilty 
greatness; to adopt in our youth maxims and ends which 
must brand our future with sordidness, oppression, and 
shame? Why can not we rise to noble conceptions of our 
destiny? Why do we not feel tliat our work as a nation is 
to carry freedom, religion, science, and a nobler form of 
human nature over this continent? and why do we not 
remember that to diffuse these blessings we must first 
cherish them in our own borders, and that whatever deeply 
and permanently corrupts us will make our spreading influ- 
ence a curse, not a blessing, to this New World? It is a 
common idea in Europe that we are destined to spread an 
inferior civilization over North America; that our absorp- 
tion in gain and outward interests mark us out as fated to 
fall behind the Old World in the higher improvements of 
human nature — in the philosophy, the refinements, the 
enthusiasm of literature and the arts, which throw a luster 
round other countries. I am not prophet enough to read 
our fate. 



COLUMBIA, 341 

THE GRAND SCOPE OF THE COLUMBIAN CELEBRATION. 
The Chicago Inter Ocean. 

The Columbian Exposition should be an exhibition 
worthy of the fame of Columbus and of the great republic 
that has taken root in the New World, which the Genoese 
discoverer not only "to Castille and to Aragon gave," but 
to the struggling, the oppressed, the aspiring, and the reso- 
lute of all humanity in all its conditions. 



AMERICAN NATIONALITY. 

RUFUS Choate, the most eminent advocate of New England. Born at 
Essex, Mass., October i, 1799; died at Halifax, N. S., July 13, 
1858. From an Independence Day oration delivered in Boston. 

But now there rises colossal the fine sweet spirit of 
nationality — the nationality of America. See there the 
pillar of fire which God has kindled, and lighted, and 
moved, for our hosts and our ages. Under such an influ- 
ence you ascend above the smoke and stir of this small 
local strife; you tread upon the high places of the earth 
and of history; you think and feel as an American for 
America; her power, her eminence, her consideration, her 
honor are yours; your competitors, like hers, are kings; your 
home, like hers, is the world; your path, like hers, is on 
the highway of empires; your charge, her charge, is of 
generations and ages; your record, her record, is of treaties, 
battles, voyages, beneath all the constellations; her image — 
one, immortal, golden — rises on your eye as our western 
star at evening rises on the traveler from his home; no 
lowering cloud, no angry river, no lingering spring, no 
broken crevasse, no inundated city or plantation, no tracts 
of sand, arid and burning, on that surface, but all blended 
and softened into one beam of kindred rays, the image, 
harbinger, and promise of love, hope, and a brighter day. 



342 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

But if you would contemplate nationality as an active 
virtue, look around you. Is not our own history one wit- 
ness and one record of what it can do? This day, the 4th 
of July, and all which it stands for — did it not give us 
these? This glory of the fields of that war, this eloquence 
of that revolution, this one wide sheet of flame, which 
wrapped tyrant and tyranny, and swept all that escaped 
from it away, forever and forever; the courage to fight, to 
retreat, to rally, to advance, to guard fhe young flag by the 
young arm and the young heart's blood, to hold up and 
hold on till the magnificent consummation crown the work 
— were not all these imparted or inspired by this imperial 
sentiment. 

Look at it! It has kindled us to no aims of conquest. It 
has involved us in no entangling alliances. It has kept 
our neutrality dignified and just. The victories of peace 
have been our prized victories. But the larger and truer 
grandeur of the nations, for which they are created, and for 
which they must one day, before some tribunal, give 
account, what a measure of these it has enabled us already 
to fulfill! It has lifted us to the throne, and has set on our 
brow the name of the Great Republic. It has taught us 
to demand nothing wrong and to submit to nothing 
wrong; it has made our diplomacy sagacious, wary, 
and accomplished; it has opened the iron gate of the 
mountain, and planted our ensign on the great tranquil 
sea. It has made the desert to bud and blossom as 
the rose; it has quickened to life the giant brood of useful 
arts; it has whitened lake and ocean with the sails of a 
daring, new, and lawful trade; it has extended to exiles, 
flying as clouds, the asylum of our better liberty. It has 
kept us at rest within our borders; it has scattered the 
seeds of liberty, under law and under order, broadcast; 
it has seen and helped American feeling to swell into a 



COLUMBIA. 343 

fuller flood; from many a field and many a deck, though 
it seeks not war, makes not war, and fears not war, it has 
borne the radiant flag, all unstained. 

THE LOVE OF COUNTRY, 

There is a love of country which comes uncalled for, 
one knows not how. It comes in with the very air, the 
eye, the ear, the instinct, the first beatings of the heart. 
The faces of brothers and sisters, and the loved father and 
mother, the laugh of playmates, the old willow tree and 
well and school-house, the bees at work in the spring, the 
note of the robin at evening, the lullaby, the cows coming 
home, the singing-book, the visits of neighbors, the general 
training — all things which make childhood happy, begin it. 

And then, as the age of the passions and the age of the 
reason draw on, and the love of home, and the sense of 
security and property under the law come to life, and as 
the story goes round, and as the book or the newspaper 
relates the less favored lot of other lands, and the public and 
private sense of the man is forming and formed, there is 
a type of patriotism already. Thus they have imbibed it 
who stood that charge at Concord, and they who hung on 
the deadly retreat, and they who threw up the hasty and 
imperfect redoubt at Bunker Hill by night, set on it the 
blood-red provincial flag, and passed so calmly with Prescott 
and Putnam and Warren through the experiences of the first 
fire. 

To direct this spontaneous sentiment of hearts to our 
great Union, to raise it high, to make it broad and deep, 
to instruct it, to educate it, is in some things harder, and in 
some things easier; but it may be, it must be, done. Our 
country has her great names; she has her food for patriot^ 
ism, for childhood, and for man. — Ibid. 



344: COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

THE UNITED STATES STEAMSHIP COLUMBIA. 

An appropriate addition to the White Squadron of the 
United States navy was launched from the Cramps' ship- 
yard at Philadelphia, July 26, 1892, and was most appro- 
priately christened the Columbia. The launch was in 
every way a success, and was witnessed by many thousand 
people, including Secretary Tracy, Vice-President Morton, 
and others prominent in the navy and in public life. 

This new vessel is designed to be swifter than any other 
large war vessel now afloat, and she will have a capacity 
possessed by no other war vessel yet built, in that of being 
able to steam at a ten-knot speed 26,240 miles, or for 109 
days, without recoaling. She also possesses many novel 
features, the principal of which is the application of triple 
screws. She is one of two of the most important ships 
designed for the United States navy, her sister ship, No. 
13, now being built at the same yards. 

The dimensions of the Columbia are: Length on mean 
load line, 412 feet; beam, 58 feet. Her normal draught 
will be 23 feet; displacement, 7,550 tons; maximum 
speed, 22 knots an hour; and she will have the enormous 
indicated horse-power of 20,000. As to speed, the 
contractor guarantees an average speed, in the open sea, 
under conditions prescribed by the Navy Department, of 
twenty-one knots an hour, maintained for four consecutive 
hours, during which period the air-pressure in the fire-room 
must be kept within a prescribed limit. For every quarter 
of a knot developed above the required guaranteed speed 
the contractor is to receive a premium of $50,000 over and 
above the contract price; and for each quarter of a knot 
that the vessel may fail of reaching the guaranteed speed 
there is to be deducted from the contract price the sum of 
$25,000. There seems to be no doubt among the naval 



COLUMBIA. 345 

experts that she will meet the conditions as to speed, and 
this is a great desideratum, since her chief function is to be 
to sweep the seas of an enemy's commerce. To do her 
work she must be able to overhaul, in an ocean race, the 
swiftest transatlantic passenger steamships afloat. 

The triple-screw system is a most decided novelty. One 
of these screws will be placed amidships, or on the line of 
the keel, as in ordinary single-screw vessels, and the two 
others will be placed about fifteen feet farther forward and 
above, one on each side, as is usual in twin-screw 
vessels. The twin screws will diverge as they leave the 
hull, giving additional room for the uninterrupted motion 
upon solid water of all three simultaneously. There is one 
set of triple expansion engines for each screw independ- 
ently, thus allowing numerous combinations of movements. 
For ordinary cruising the central screw alone will be used, 
giving a speed of about fourteen knots; with the two side- 
screws alone, a speed of seventeen knots can be maintained, 
and with all three screws at work, at full power, a high speed 
of from twenty to twenty-two knots can be got out of the 
vessel. This arrangement will allow the machinery to be 
worked at its most economical number of revolutions at all 
rates of the vessel's speed, and each engine can be used 
independently of the others in propelling the vessel. The 
full steam pressure will be i6o pounds. The shafting is 
made of forged steel, i6-| inches in diameter. In fact, steel 
has been used wherever possible, so as to secure the 
lightest, in weight, of machinery. There are ten boilers, 
six of which are double-ended — that is, with furnaces in 
each end — 21^ feet long and 15-^ feet in diameter. Two 
others are iS;^ feet long and iif feet in diameter, and 
the two others, single-ended, are 8 feet long and 10 feet in 
diameter. Eight of the largest boilers are set in water- 
tight compartments. 



346 COLUMliUS AND (X)LUMI!IA. 

In appearance the ("olumbia will closely resemble, when 
ready for sea, an ordinary merchantman, the sides being 
nearly free from projections or sponsons, which ordinarily 
appear on vessels of war. She will have two single masts, 
but neither of them will have a military top, such as is now 
provided upon ordinary war vessels. This plan of her 
merchantman appearance is to enable her to get within 
range of any vessel she may wish to encounter before her 
character or purpose is discovered. The vitals of the 
ship will be well protected with armor plating and the gun 
stations will be shielded against the firing of machine 
guns. Her machinery, boilers, magazines, etc., are pro- 
tected by an armored deck four inches thick on the slope 
and 2^ inches thick on the flat. The space between this 
deck and the gun-deck is minutely subdivided with coal- 
bunkers and storerooms, and in addition to these a coffer- 
dam, iivc feet in width, is worked next to the ship's side 
for the whole length of the vessel. In the l)unkers the 
space between the inner and outer skins of the vessel will 
be fdled with woodite, thus forming a wall five feet thick 
against machine gun fire. This filling can also be utilized 
as fuel in an emergency. Forward and abalt of the coal 
bunkers the coffer-dam will be filled with some water- 
excluding substance similar to woodite. In the wake of 
the four-inch and the machine guns, the ship's side will be 
armored willi fonr-inch and two-inch nickel steel plates. 

'I'hc vessel will carry no big guns, for the reason that 
the uses for whic-h she is intencU'd will not require them. 
Not a gun will be in sight, aiul the battery will be abnor- 
mally light. There will be four six-inch breech-loading rifles, 
mounted in the open, and protected with heavy shields 
attached to the gun carriages; eight four-inch breech-load- 
ing rifles; twelve six-jiounder, and four one-pounder rapid- 
firing guns; four machine or (latling guns, and six torpedo- 



COLUMBIA. 347 

launching tubes. Besides these she has a ram bow. The 
Columbia is to be completed, ready for service, by May 19, 
1893. 



THE FIRST AMERICAN. 

Eliza Cook, a popular English poetess. Born in Southwark, 
London, 181 7. 

Land of the West! though passing brief the record of thine 

age. 
Thou hast a name that darkens all on history's wide page. 
Let all the blasts of fame ring out — thine shall be loudest 

far; 
Let others boast their satellites — thou hast the planet star. 
Thou hast a name whose characters of light shall ne'er 

depart; 
'Tis stamped upon the dullest brain, and warms the coldest 

heart; 
A war-cry fit for any land where freedom's to be won: 
Land of the West! it stands alone — it is thy Washington.' 



COLUMIUA THE MONUMENT OF COLUMBUS. 

KinahanCornwai.lis. In " The Song of America and Columbus," 1892. 

Queen of the Great Republic of the West, 
With shining stars and stripes upon thy breast. 
The emblems of our land of liberty. 
Thou namesake of Columbus — hail to thee! 

No fitter queen could now Columbus crown, 
Or voice to all the world his great renown. 
His fame in thee personified we see — 
The sequel of his grand discovery; 
Yea, here, in thee, his monument behold, 
Whose splendor dims his golden dreams of old. 



34:8 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

And standing by Chicago's inland sea, 
The nations of the earth will vie with thee 
In twining laurel wreaths for him of yore 
Who found the New World in San Salvador. 

Columbia! to Columbus give thy hand. 

And, as ye on a sea of glory stand. 

The world will read anew the story grand 

Of thee, Columbia, and Columbus, too — 

The matchless epic of the Old and New — 

The tale that grows more splendid with the years- 

The pride and wonder of the hemispheres. 

In vast magnificence it stands alone, 

With thee — Columbus greeting — on thy throne. 



AMERICAN IDEA. 

The Hon. Shelby M. Cullom, U. S. vSenator from Illinois. In a 
speech delivered in Chicago, 1892. 

From the altitude of now, from this zenith of history, 
look out upon the world. Behold! the American idea is 
everywhere prominent. The world itself is preparing to 
take an American holiday. The wise men, not only of the 
Orient, but everywhere, are girding up their loins, and will 
follow the star of empire until it rests above this city of 
Chicago — this civic Hercules; this miracle of accomplish- 
ment; the throbbing heart of all the teeming life and 
activity of our American commonwealth. The people of 
the world are soon to receive an object lesson in the 
stupendous kindergarten we are instituting for their benefit. 
Even Chile will be here, and will learn, I trust, something 
of Christian forbearance and good-fellowship. 

Now, is it possible that monarchy, plutarchy, or any other 
archy, can long withstand this curriculum of instruction? 
No! I repeat, the American idea is everywhere triumphant. 



COLUMBIA. 349 

England is a monarchy, to be sure, but only out of compli- 
ment to an impotent and aged Queen. The Czar of 
Russia clings to his throne. It is a hen-coop in the mael- 
strom! The crumbling monarchies of the earth are held 
together only by the force of arms. Standing armies are 
encamped without each city. The sword and bayonet 
threaten and retard, but the seeds of liberty have been 
caught up by the winds of heaven and scattered broadcast 
throughout the earth. Tyranny's doom is sounded' The 
people's millennium is at hand! And this — this, under 
God, is the mission of America. 



YOUNG AMERICA. 

George William Curtis, a popular American author and lecturer. 
Born at Providence, R. I., February 24, 1824; died at West 
Brighton, Staten Island, N. Y., August 31, 1892. 

I know the flower in your hand fades while you look at 
it. The dream that allures you glimmers and is gone. 
But flower and dream, like youth itself, are buds and 
prophecies. For where, without the perfumed blossoming 
of the spring orchards all over the hills and among all the 
valleys of New England and New York, would the happy 
harvests of New York and New England be? And where, 
without the dreams of the young men lighting the future 
with human possibility, would be the deeds of the old men, 
dignifying the past with human achievement? How deeply 
does it become us to believe this, who are not only young 
ourselves, but living with the youth of the youngest nation 
in history, I congratulate you that you are young; I con- 
gratulate you that you are Americans. Like you, that 
country is in its flower, not yet in its fruit, and that flower 
is subject to a thousand chances before the fruit is set. 
Worms may destroy it, frosts may wither it, fires may 
blight it, gusts may whirl it away; but how gorgeously it 



350 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

Still hangs blossoming in the garden of time, while its pene- 
trating perfume floats all round the world, and intoxicates 
all other nations with the hope of liberty. 

Knowing that the life of every nation, as of each indi- 
vidual, is a battle, let us remember, also, that the battle is 
to those who fight with faith and undespairing devotion. 
Knowing that nothing is worth fighting for at all unless 
God reigns, let us, at least, believe as much in the good- 
ness of God as we do in the dexterity of the devil. And, 
viewing this prodigious spectacle of our countrj- — this hope 
of humanity, this young America, our America — taking the 
sun full in its front, and making for the future as boldly 
and blithely as the young David for Goliath, let us believe 
with all our hearts, and from that faith shall spring the 
fact that David, and not Goliath, is to win the day; and 
that, out of the high-hearted dreams of wise and good men 
about our country, Time, however invisibly and inscrut- 
ably, is, at this moment, slowly hewing the most colossal 
and resplendent result in history. 



A HIDDEN WORLD. 
Olive E. Dana, an American journalist. In tlie N'ew England yoitmal. 
The hidden world lies in the hand of God, 
Waiting, like seed, to fall on the sod; 
Tranquil its lakes were, and lovely its shores. 
While idly each stream o'er the fretting rocks pours. 
Its forests are fair and its mines fathomless. 
Grand are its mountains in their loftiness; 
Its fields wait the plow, and its harbors the ships. 
No sail down the blue of the water-way slips. 
God keeps in his palm, through centuries dim. 
This hid, idle seed. It belongeth to him. 
Away in a corner, where God only knows, 
The seed when he plants it quickens and grows. 



COLUMBIA. 351 

The pale buds unfold as the nations pass by, 
The fragrance is grateful, the blooms multiply, 
But it is blossom time, this what we see; 
Who knows what the fullness of harvest will be. 



COLUMBIA THE QUEEN OF THE WORLD. 

Timothy Dwight, an American divine and scholar. Born at North- 
ampton, Mass., May 14, 1752; died at New Haven, Conn., Jan- 
uary II, 1817. 

Columbia, Columbia, to glory arise, 

The queen of the world and the child of the skies. 



A DEFINITION OF PATRIOTISM. 

T. M. Eddy, an eloquent speaker and profound scholar. Born, 1823; 
died, 1874. From an oration delivered on Independence Day. 

Patriotism is the love of country. It has ever been 
recognized among the cardinal virtues of true men, and he 
who was destitute of it has been considered an ingrate. 
Even among the icy desolations of the far north we expect 
to find, and do find, an ardent affection for the land of 
nativity, the home of childhood, youth, and age. There is 
much in our country to create and foster this sentiment. 
It is a country of imperial dimensions, reaching from sea 
to sea, and almost "from the rivers to the ends of the 
earth." None of the empires of old could compare with it 
in this regard. It is washed by two great oceans, while its 
lakes are vast inland seas. Its rivers are silver lines of 
beauty and commerce. Its grand mountain chains are the 
links of God's forging and welding, binding together 
North and South, East and West. It is a land of glorious 
memories. It was peopled by the picked men of Europe, 
who came hither, " not for wrath, but conscience' sake." 
Said the younger Winthrop to his father, ''I shall call that 



352 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

my country where I may most glorify God and enjoy the 
presence of my dearest friends." And so came godly men 
and devoted women, flying from oppressive statutes, where 
they might find 

Freedom to worship God. 
There are spots on the sun, and the microscope reveals 
flaws in burnished steel, and so there were spots and flaws 
in the character of the early founders of this land; but 
with them all, our colonial history is one that stirs the blood 
and quickens the pulse of him who reads. It is the land 
of the free school, the free press, and the free pulpit. It 
is impossible to compute the power of this trio. The free 
schools, open to rich and poor, bind together the people in 
educational bonds, and in the common memories of the 
recitation-room and the playground; and how strong 
they are, you, reader, well know, as some past recollection 
tugs at your heart-strings. The free press may not always 
be altogether as dignified or elevated as the more highly 
cultivated may desire, but it is ever open to complaints of the 
people; is ever watchful of popular rights and jealous of 
class encroachments, and the highest in authority know 
that it is above President or Senate. The free pulpit, sus- 
tained not by legally exacted tithes wrung from an unwill- 
ing people, but by the free-will offerings of loving sup- 
porters, gathers about it the millions, inculcates the highest 
morality, points to brighter worlds, and when occasion 
demands will not be silent before political wrongs. Its 
power, simply as an educating agency, can scarcely be 
estimated. In this country its freedom gives a competition 
so vigorous that it must remain in direct popular sympathy. 
How strong it is, the country saw when its voice was lifted 
in the old cry, " Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft." Its 
words started the slumbering, roused the careless, and 
called the "sacramental host," as well as the "men of the 



I,s 




COLUMBIA. 353 

world, to arms." These three grand agencies are not rival, 
but supplementary, each doing an essential work in public 
culture. 



AMERICA OPPORTUNITY. 

Ralph Waldo Emerson, a noted American essayist, poet, and specula- 
tive philosopher. Born in Boston, Mass., May 25, 1803; died, 
April 27, 1882. 

America is another name for opportunity. 

THE SEQUEL OF THE DISCOVERY. 

There is a Columbia of thought and art and character 
which is the last and endless sequel of Columbus' adventure. 
—Ibid. 



YOUNG AMERICA. 

Alexander Hnx Everett, an American scholar and diplomatist. 
Born in Boston, Mass., 1792; died at Canton, China, May, 1S47. 

Scion of a mighty stock! 
Hands of iron — hearts of oak- 
Follow with unflinching tread 
Where the noble fathers led. 

Craft and subtle treachery. 
Gallant youth, are not for thee; 
Follow thou in words and deeds 
Where the God within thee leads. 

Honesty, with steady eye. 
Truth and pure simplicity. 
Love, that gently winneth hearts, 
These shall be thy holy arts. 

Prudent in the council train. 
Dauntless on the battle plain. 
Ready at thy country's need 
For lier glorious cause to bleed. 

23 



354 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

Where the dews of night distill 
Upon Vernon's holy hill, 
Where above it gleaming far 
Freedom lights her guiding star, 

Thither turn the steady eye, 
Flashing with a purpose high; 
Thither, with devotion meet, 
Often turn the pilgrim feet. 

Let the noble motto be: 
God-^ — the country — liberty! 
Planted on religion's rock, 
Thou shalt stand in every shock. 

Laugh at danger, far or near; 
Spurn at baseness, spurn at fear. 
Still, with persevering might, 
Speak the truth, and do the right. 

So shall peace, a charming guest, 
Dove-like in thy bosom rest; 
So shall honor's steady blaze 
Beam upon thy closing days. 



RESPONSIBILITY. 

Ezra Stiles Gannett, an American Unitarian divine. Born at Cam- 
bridge, Mass., 1801; died, August 26,1871. From a patriotic 
address delivered in Boston. 

The eyes of Europe are upon us; the monarch, from his 
throne, watches us with an angry countenance; the peasant 
turns his gaze on us with joyful faith; the writers on poli- 
tics quote our condition as a proof of the possibility of 
popular government; the heroes of freedom animate their 
followers by reminding them of our success. At no 



COLUMBIA. 355 

moment of the last half century has it been so important 
that we should send up a clear and strong light which may 
be seen across the Atlantic. An awful charge of unfaith- 
fulness to the interests of mankind will be recorded against 
us if we suffer this light to be obscured by the mingling 
vapors of passion and misrule and sin. But not Europe alone 
will be influenced by the character we give to our destiny. 
The republics of the South have no other guide toward the 
establishment of order and freedom than our example. If 
this should fail them, the last stay would be torn from their 
hope. We are placed under a most solemn obligation, to 
keep before them this motive to perseverance in their 
endeavors to place free institutions on a sure basis. Shall 
we leave those wide regions to despair and anarchy? Better 
that they had patiently borne a foreign yoke, though it 
bowed their necks to the ground. 

Citizens of the United States, it has been said of us, 
with truth, that we are at the head of the popular party of 
the world. Shall we be ashamed of so glorious a rank? or 
shall we basely desert our place and throw away our dis- 
tinction? Forbid it! self-respect, patriotism, philanthropy. 
Christians, we believe that God has made us a name and a 
praise among the nations. We believe that our religion 
yields its best fruit in a free land. Shall we be regardless 
of our duty as creatures of the Divine Power and recipients 
of His goodness? Shall we be indifferent to the effects 
which our religion may work in the world? Forbid it! our 
gratitude, our faith, our piety. In one way only can we 
discharge our duty to the rest of mankind— by the purity 
and elevation of character that shall distinguish us as a 
people. If we sink into luxurv, vice, or moral apathy, our 
brightness will be lost, our prosperity deprived of its vital 
element, and we shall appear disgraced before man, guilty 
before God. 



856 'COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 



ATLANTIC AND PACIFIC. 



James A. Garfield, American general and statesman; twentieth Presi- 
dent of the United States. Born in Orange, Ohio, November 19, 
1831; shot by an assassin, July 2, 188 1; died, September 19 in the 
same year, at Long Branch, New Jersey. From "Garfield's 
Words." By permission of Messrs. Houghton, Mifflin & Co., 
Publishers. 

The Atlantic i.s still the great historic sea. Even in its 
sunken wrecks might be read the record of modern 
nations. Who shall say that the Pacific will not yet become 
the great historic sea of the future — the vast amphitheater 
around which shall sit in majesty and power the two Amer- 
icas, Asia, Africa, and the chief colonies of Europe. God 
forbid that the waters of our national life should ever settle 
to the dead level of a waveless calm. It would be the 
stagnation of death, the ocean grave of individual liberty. 



GREATEST CONTINUOUS EMPIRE. 

The Right Hon. William Ewart Gladstone, the noted English 
statesman and orator. Born at Liverpool, December 29, i8og. 
From his " Kin beyond the Sea." 

There is no parallel in all the records of the world to the 
case of that prolific British mother who has sent forth her 
innumerable children over all the earth to be the founders 
of half-a-dozen empires. She, with her progeny, may 
almost claim to constitute a kind of universal church in 
politics. But among these children there is one whose 
place in the world's eye and in history is superlative; it is 
the American Republic. She is the eldest born. She has, 
taking the capacity of her land into view as well as its mere 
measurement, a natural base for the greatest continuous 
empire ever established by man. And it may be well here 
to mention what has not always been sufficiently observed, 
that the distinction between continuous empire, and 



COLUMBIA. 357 

empire severed and dispersed over sea is vital. The 
development whicli the Republic has effected has been 
unexampled in its rapidity and force. While other countries 
have doubled, or at most trebled, their population, she has 
risen during one single century of freedom, in round num- 
bers, from two millions to forty-five. As to riches, it is 
reasonable to establish, from the decennial stages of the 
progress thus far achieved, a series for the future; and, 
reckoning upon this basis, I suppose that the very next cen- 
sus, in the year 1880, will exhibit her to the world as certainly 
the wealthiest of all the nations. The huge figure of a 
thousand millions sterling, which may be taken roundly as 
the annual income of the United Kingdom, has been 
reached at a surprising rate; a rate which may perhaps be 
best expressed by saying that, if we could have started 
forty or fifty years ago from zero, at the rate of our recent 
annual increment, we should now have reached our present 
position. But while we have been advancing with this 
portentous rapidity, America is passing us by as if in a 
canter. Yet even now the work of searching the soil and 
the bowels of the territory, and opening out her enterprise 
throughout its vast expanse, is in its infancy. The England 
and the America of the present are probably the two 
strongest nations of the world. But there can hardly be 
a doubt, as between the America and the England of the 
future, that the daughter, at some no very distant time, 
will, whether fairer or less fair, be unquestionably yet 
stronger than the mother. 



TYPICAL AMERICAN. 

Henry W. Grady, the late brilliant editor of the Atlanta Constitution. 
From an address delivered at the famous New England dinner in 
New York. 

With the Cavalier once established as a fact in your 
charming little books, I shall let him work out his own 



858 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

Stratum, as he has always done, with engaging gallantry, 
and we will hold no controversy as to his merits. Why 
should we? Neither Puritan nor Cavalier long survived as 
such. The virtues and traditions of both happily still live 
for the inspiration of their sons and the saving of the old 
fashion. But both Puritan and Cavalier were lost in the 
storm of their first revolution, and the American citizen, 
supplanting both, and stronger than either, took possession 
of the republic bought by their common blood and fash- 
ioned to wisdom, and charged himself with teaching men 
government and establishing the voice of the people 
as the voice of God. Great types, like valuable plants, are 
slow to flower and fruit. But from the union of these 
colonists, from the straightening of their purposes and the 
crossing of their blood, slow perfecting through a century, 
came he who stands as the first typical American, the first 
who comprehended within himself all the strength and 
gentleness, all the majesty and grace of this Republic — 
Abraham Lincoln. He was the sum of Puritan and 
Cavalier, for in his ardent nature were fused the virtues of 
both, and in the depths of his great soul the faults of both 
were lost. He was greater than Puritan, greater than 
Cavalier, in that he was American, and that in his homely 
form were first gathered the vast and thrilling forces of 
this ideal government — charging it with such tremendous 
meaning and so elevating it above human suffering that 
martyrdom, though infamously aimed, came as a fitting 
crown to a life consecrated from the cradle to human 
liberty. Let us, each cherishing his traditions and hon- 
oring his fathers, build with reverent hands to the type 
of this simple but sublime life, in which all types are 
honored, and in the common glory we shall win as Ameri- 
cans there will be plenty and to spare for your forefathers 
and for mine. 



COLUMBIA. 359 

GRATITUDE AND PRIDE. 

Benjamin Harrison, American soldier, lawyer, and statesman. Born 
at North Bend, Ohio, August 20, 1833. Grandson of General 
William Henry Harrison, ninth President of the United States, 
and himself President, 1888-1892. From a speech at Sacramento, 
Cal., iSgi. 

Fellow-citizens: This fresh, deHghtful morning, this 
vast assemblage of contented and happy people, this build- 
ing, dedicated to the uses of civil government — all things 
about us tend to inspire our hearts with pride and with 
gratitude. Gratitude to that overruling Providence that 
turned hither, after the discovery of this continent, the steps 
of those who had the capacity to organize a free represent- 
ative government. Gratitude to that Providence that has 
increased the feeble colonies on an inhospitable coast to 
these millions of prosperous people, who have found 
another sea and populated its sunny shores with a happy 
and growing people. 

Gratitude to that Providence that led us through civil 
strife to a glory and a perfection of unity as a people that 
was otherwise impossible. Gratitude that we have to-day 
a Union of free States without a slave to stand as a 
reproach to that immortal declaration upon which our 
Government rests. 

Pride that our people have achieved so much; that, 
triumphing over all the hardships of those early pioneers, 
who struggled in the face of discouragement and difficulties 
more appalling than those that met Columbus when he 
turned the prows of his little vessels toward an unknown 
shore; that, triumphing over perils of starvation, perils of 
savages, perils of sickness, here on the sunny slope of the 
Pacific they have established civil institutions and set up 
the banner of the imperishable Union. 



360 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

NATURE SUPERIOR. 

Sir Francis Bond Head, a popular English writer. Born near Roches- 
ter, Kent, January i, 1893. Lieutenant-general of Upper Canada 
1836-183S. Died, July 20, 1875. 

In both the northern and southern hemispheres of the 
New World, nature has not only outlined her works on a 
larger scale, but has painted the whole picture with brighter 
and more costly colors than she used in delineating and in 
beautifying the Old World. The heavens of America 
appear infinitely higher, the sky is bluer, the air is fresher, 
the cold is intenser, the moon looks larger, the stars are 
brighter, the thunder is louder, the lightning is vivider, the 
wind is stronger, the rain is heavier, the mountains are 
higher, the rivers longer, the forests bigger, the plains 
broader. 



AMERICA S WELCOME. 

Patrick Hexrv, a celebrated American orator and patriot. Born at 
Studley, Hanover County, Virginia, May 29, 1736; died, June 6. 
1799. The author of the celebrated phrase, "Give me liberty 
or give me death," in speaking in the Virginia Convention, 
March, 1775. 

Cast your eyes over this extensive country; observe the 
salubrity of your cliinate, the variety and fertility of your 
soil, and see that soil intersected in every quarter by bold, 
navigable streams, flowing to the east and to the west, as 
if the finger of Heaven were marking out the course of 
your settlements, inviting you to enterprise, and pointing 
the way to wealth. You are destined, at some time or 
other, to become a great agricultural and commercial peo- 
ple; the only question is, whether you choose to reach this 
point by slow gradations, and at some distant period; 
lingering on through a long and sickly minority; subjected, 
meanwhile, to the machinations, insults, and oppressions, 



COLUMBIA. 361 

of enemies, foreign and domestic, without sufficient strength 
to resist and chastise them; or whether you choose rather 
to rush at once, as it were, to the full enjoyment of those 
high destinies, and be able to cope, single-handed, with the 
proudest oppressor of the Old World. If you prefer the 
latter course, as I trust you do, encourage immigration; 
encourage the husbandmen, the mechanics, the merchants, 
of the Old World to come and settle m this land of promise; 
make it the home of the skillful, the industrious, the fortu- 
nate, and happy, as well as the asylum of the distressed; 
fill up the measure of your population as speedily as you 
can, by the means which Heaven hath placed in your power; 
and I venture to prophesy there are those now living who 
will see this favored land amongst the most powerful on 
earth; able to take care of herself, without resorting to 
that policy, which is always so dangerous, though sometimes 
unavoidable, of calling in foreign aid. Yes, they will see 
her great in arts and in arms; her golden harvests waving 
over fields of immeasurable extent; her commerce pene- 
trating the most distant seas, and her cannon silencing the 
vain boasts of those who now proudly affect to rule the 
waves. 

But you must have men; you can not get along without 
them; those heavy forests of valuable timber, under which 
your lands are growing, must be cleared away; those vast 
riches which cover the face of your soil, as well as those 
which lie hid in its bosom, are to be developed and gathered 
only by the skill and enterprise of men. Do you ask how 
you are to get them? Open your doors, and they will come 
in; the population of the Old World is full to overflowing; 
that population is ground, too, by the oppressions of the 
governments under which tliey live. They are already 
standing on tiptoe upon their native shores, and looking to 
your coasts with a wishful and longing eye; they see here 



362 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

a land blessed with natural and political advantages which 
are not equaled by those of any other country upon earth; 
a land on which a gracious Providence hath emptied the 
horn of abundance; a land over which peace hath now 
stretched forth her white wings, and where content and 
plenty lie down at every door. They see something still 
more attractive than all this; they see a land in which 
liberty hath taken up her abode; that liberty whom they 
had considered as a fabled goddess, existing only in the 
fancies of poets; they see her here a real divinity, her altars 
rising on every hand throughout these happy States, her 
glories chanted by three millions of tongues, and the whole 
region smiling under her blessed influence. Let but this 
our celestial goddess, Liberty, stretch forth her fair hand 
toward the people of the Old World, tell them to come, 
and bid them welcome, and you will see them pouring in 
from the north, from the south, from the east, and from the 
west; your wildernesses will be cleared and settled, your 
deserts will smile, your ranks will be filled, and you will 
soon be in a condition to defy the powers of any adversary. 



OUR GREAT TRUST. 

George Stillman Hillard, an eminent American writer, lawyer, and 
orator. Born at Machias, Maine, 1808; died, 1879. From an 
Independence Day oration. 

Our Rome can not fall, and we be innocent. No con- 
queror will chain us to the car of his triumph; no count- 
less swarm of Huns and Goths will bury the memorials and 
trophies of civilized life beneath a living tide of barbarism. 
Our own selfishness, our own neglect, our own passions, 
and our own vices will furnish the elements of our destruc- 
tion. With our own hands we shall tear down the stately 
edifice of our glory. We shall die by self-inflicted wounds. 



COLUMBIA. 363 

But we will not talk of themes like these. We will not 
think of failure, dishonor, and despair. We will elevate 
our minds to the contemplation of our high duties and the 
great trust committed to us. We will resolve to lay the 
foundations of our prosperity on that rock of private vir- 
tue which can not be shaken until the laws of the moral 
world are reversed. From our own breasts shall flow the 
salient springs of national increase. Then our success, our 
happiness, our glory, will be as inevitable as the inferences 
of mathematics. We may calmly smile at all the croakings 
of all the ravens, whether of native or foreign breed. 

The whole will not grow weak by the increase of its 
parts. Our growth will be like that of the mountain oak, 
which strikes its roots more deeply into the soil, and clings 
to it with a closer grasp, as its lofty head is exalted and its 
broad arms stretched out. The loud burst of joy and 
gratitude which, on this, the anniversary of our independ- 
ence, is breaking from the full hearts of a mighty people, 
will never cease to be heard. No chasms of sullen silence 
will interrupt its course; no discordant notes of sec- 
tional madness mar the general harmony. Year after 
year will increase it by tributes from now unpeopled 
solitudes. The farthest West shall hear it and rejoice; the 
Oregon shall swell it with the voice of its waters; the 
Rocky Mountains shall fling back the glad sound from their 
snowy crests. 



ON FREEDOM S GENEROUS SOIL. 

Oliver Wendell Holmes, M. D., the distinguished American author, 
wit, and poet. Born in Cambridge, Mass., August 29, 1S09. 

America is the only place where man is full-grown. 



364 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

NATIONAL HERITAGE. 

The Rev. Thomas Starr Kinc;, an American Unitarian divine. Born 
in New York in 1824; died, 1S64. From an address on the 
"Privileges and Duties of Patriotism," delivered in November, 
1862. By permission of Messrs Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Pub- 
lishers, Boston. 

Suppose that the continent could turn toward you 
to-morrow at sunrise, and show to you the whole American 
area in the short hours of the sun's advance from Eastport 
to the Pacific. You would see New England roll into liglit 
from the green plumes of Aroostook to the silver stripe of 
the Hudson; westward thence over the Empire State, and 
over the lakes, and over the sweet valleys of Pennsylvania, 
and over the prairies, the morning blush would run and 
would waken all the line of the Mississippi; from the frosts 
where it rises to the fervid waters in which it pours, for 
3,000 miles it would be visible, fed by rivers that flow from 
every mile of the Alleghany slope, and edged by the green 
embroideries of the temperate and tropic zones; beyond 
this line another basin, too — the Missouri — catching the 
morning, leads your eye along its western slope till the 
Rocky Mountains burst upon the vision, and yet do not bar 
it; across its passes w-e must follow, as the stubborn cour- 
age of American pioneers has forced its way, till again 
the Sierras and their silver veins are tinted along the mighty 
bulwark with the break of day; and then over to the gold 
fields of the western slope, and the fatness of the Califor- 
nia soil, and the beautiful valleys of Oregon, and the 
stately forests of Washington, the eye is drawn, as the 
globe turns out of the night shadow; and when the Pacific 
waves are crested with radiance, you have the one blending 
picture — nay, the reality — of the American domain. No 
such soil — so varied by climate, by products, by mineral 
riches, by forest and lake, by wild heights and buttresses, 



COLUMBIA. 365 

and by opulent plains, yet all bound into unity of configu- 
ration and bordered by both warm and icy seas — no such 
domain, was ever given to one people. 

And then suppose that you could see in a picture as vast 
and vivid the preparation for our inheritance of this land. 
Columbus, haunted by his round idea, and setting sail in a 
sloop, to see Europe sink behind him, while he was serene 
in the faith of his dream; the later navigators of every 
prominent Christian race who explored the upper coasts; 
the Mayflower, with her cargo of sifted acorns from the 
hardy stock of British puritanism, and the ship, whose 
name we know not, that bore to Virginia the ancestors of 
Washington; the clearing of the wilderness, and the dotting 
of its clearings with the proofs of manly wisdom and Chris- 
tian trust; then the gradual interblending of effort and 
interest and sympathy into one life — the congress of the 
whole Atlantic slope — to resist oppression upon one mem- 
ber; the rally of every State around Washington and his 
holy sword, and again the nobler rally around l.im when he 
signed the Constitution, and after that the organization of 
the farthest West with North and South, into one polity 
and communion; when this was finished, the tremendous 
energy of free life, under the stimulus and with the aid of 
advancing science, in increasing wealth, subduing the wilds 
to the bonds of use, multiplying fertile fields and busy 
schools and noble work-shops and churches, hallowed by 
free-will offerings of prayer; and happy homes, and domes 
dedicated to the laws of States that rise by magic from the 
haunts of the buffalo and deer, all in less than a long life- 
time; and if we could see also how, in achieving this, the 
flag which represents all this history is dyed in traditions 
of exploits, by land and sea, that have given heroes to 
American annals whose names are potent to conjure with, 
while the world's list of thinkers in matter is crowded 



366 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

with the names of American inventors, and the higher rolls 
of literary merit are not empty of the title of our " repre- 
sentative men "; if all that the past has done for us, and 
the present reveals, could thus stand apparent in one pict- 
ure, and then if the promise of the future to the children of 
our millions under our common law, and with continental 
peace, could be caught in one vast spectral exhibition — the 
wealth in store, the power, the privilege, the freedom, the 
learning, the expansive and varied and mighty unity in fel- 
lowship, almost fulfilling the poet's dream of "the parlia- 
ment of man, the federation of the world " — you would 
exclaim with exultation, "I, too, am an American!" You 
would feel that patriotism, next to your tie to the Divine 
Love, is the greatest privilege of your life; and you would 
devote yourselves, out of inspiration and joy, to the obli- 
gations of patriotism, that this land, so spread, so adorned, 
so colonized, so blessed, should be kept forever against all 
the assaults of traitors, one in polity, in spirit, and in 
aim. 



SIFTED WHEAT. 



Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. From his " Courtship of Miles 
Standish," iv. 

God hath sifted three kingdoms to find the wheat for this 
planting. 



CENTER OF CIVILIZATION. 
From N'cni/i British Review. 

It is too late to disparage America. Accustomed to look 
with wonder on the civilization of the past, upon the 
unblest glories of Greece and of Rome, upon mighty empires 
that have risen but to fall, the English mind has never 
fixed itself on the grand phenomenon of a great nation at 
school. Viewing America as a froward child that has 



. COLUMBIA. 367 

deserted its home and abjured its parent, we have ever 
looked upon her with a callous heart and with an evil eye, 
judicially blind to her progress. 

But how she has gone on developing the resources of a 
region teeming with vegetable life. How she has intrenched 
herself amid noble institutions, with temples enshrined in 
religious toleration, with universities of private bequest and 
public organization, with national and unshackled schools, 
and with all the improvements which science, literature, and 
philanthropy demand from the citizen or from the state. 

Supplied from the Old World with its superabundant 
life, the Anglo-Saxon tide has been carrying its multiplied 
population to the West, rushing onward through impervious 
forests, leveling their lofty pines and converting the wilder- 
ness into abodes of populous plenty, intelligence, and taste. 
Nor is this living flood the destroying scourge which Provi- 
dence sometimes lets loose upon our species. It breathes in 
accents which are our own; it is instinct with English life; 
and it bears on its snowy crest the auroral light of the 
East, to gild the darkness of the West with the purple 
radiance of salvation, of knowledge, and of peace. 

Her empire of coal, her kingdom of cotton and of corn, her 
regions of gold and of iron, mark out America as the center 
of civilization, as the emporium of the world's commerce, 
as the granary and storehouse out of which the kingdoms 
of the East will be clothed and fed; and, we greatly fear, as 
the asylum in which our children will take refuge when the 
hordes of Asia and the semi-barbarians of Eastern Europe 
shall again darken and desolate the West. 

Though dauntless in her mien, and colossal in her 
strength, she displays upon her banner the star of peace, 
shedding its radiance upon us. Let us reciprocate the celes- 
tial light, and, strong and peaceful ourselves, we shall 
have nothing to fear from her power, but everything to 
learn from her example. 



3G.S COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

A YOUTHFUL LAND. 

James Otis, a celebrated American orator and patriot. Born at West 
Barnstable, Mass., February 5, 1725. Killed by lightning at 
Andover, Mass., May, 1783. 

England may as well dam up the waters of the Nile with 
bulrushes as to fetter the step of Freedom, more proud and 
firm in this youthful land than where she treads the seques- 
tered glens of Scotland or couches herself among the mag- 
nificent mountains of Switzerland. We plunged into the 
wave with the great charter of freedom in our teeth 
because the faggot and torch were behind us. We have 
waked this new world from its savage lethargy; forests have 
been prostrated in our path, towns and cities have grown up 
suddenly as the flowers of the tropics, and the fires in our 
autumnal woods are scarcely more rapid than the increase 
of our wealth and population. 



THE COLUMBIAN CHORUS. 

Prof. John Knowles Paine of Harvard University has 
completed the music of his Columbian march and chorus, to 
be performed on the occasion of the dedication of the 
Exposition buildings, October 21, 1892, to write which he 
was especially commissioned by the Exposition manage- 
ment. Prof. Paine has provided these original words for 
the choral ending of his composition: 

All hail and welcome, nations of the earth! 

Columbia's greeting comes from every State. 
Proclaim to all mankind the world's new birth 

Of freedom, age on age shall consecrate. 
Let war and emnity forever cease, 

Let glorious art and commerce b:inish wrong; 
The universal brotherhood of peace 

Shall be Columbia's high inspiring song. 




CO ^ 

5 ^ 

D 3 

O cx o 

o ^ ~ 

Li- £ n, 

O 
CD 



bo 



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COLUMBIA. 359 

SOVEREIGN OF THE ASCENDANT. 
Charles Phillips, an Irish barrister. Born at Sligo, about 178S. He 
practiced with success in criminal cases in London, and gained a 
wide reputation by his speeches, the style of which is rather florid. 
He was for many years a commissioner of the insolvent debtors' 
court in London. Died in 1859. 

Search creation round, where can you find a country that 
presents so sublime a view, so interesting an anticipation? 
Who shall say for what purpose mysterious Providence may 
not have designed her? Who shall say that when in its 
follies, or its crimes, the Old World may have buried all the 
pride of its power, and all the pomp of its civilization, 
human nature may not find its destined renovation in the 
New! When its temples and its trophies shall have moldered 
into dust; when the glories of its name shall be but the 
legend of tradition, and the light of its achievements live 
only in song, philosophy will revive again in the sky of her 
Franklin, and glory rekindle at the urn of her Washington. 
Is this the vision of romantic fancy? Is it even improb- 
able? I appeal to History! Tell me, thou reverend 
chronicler of the grave, can all the illusions of ambition 
realized, can all the wealth of a universal commerce, can 
all the achievements of successful heroism, or all the estab- 
lishments of this world's wisdom secure to empire the per- 
manency of its possessions? Alas, Troy thought so once; 
yet the land of Priam lives only in song. Thebes thought 
so once; yet her hundred gates have crumbled, and her 
very tombs are but as the dust they were vainly intended 
to commemorate. So thought Palmyra; where is she? 
So thought the countries of Demosthenes and the Spartan- 
yet Leomdas is trampled by the timid slave, and Athens 
insulted by the servile, mindless, and enervate Ottoman 
In his hurried march, Time has but looked at their imagined 
immortality, and all its vanities, from the palace to the tomb, 
have, with their ruins, erased the very impression of his 

24 



370 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

footsteps. The days of their glory are as if they had never 
been; and the island that was then a speck, rude and 
neglected, in the barren ocean, now rivals the ubiquity of 
their commerce, the glory of their arms, the fame of their 
philosophy, the eloquence of their senate, and the inspi- 
ration of their bards. Who shall say, then, contemplating 
the past, that England, proud and potent as she appears, 
may not one day be what Athens is, and the young America 
yet soar to be what Athens was. Who shall say, when the 
European column shall have moldered, and the night of 
barbarism obscured its very ruins, that that mighty conti- 
nent may not emerge from the horizon, to rule, for its time, 
sovereign of the ascendant. 



LAND OF LIBERTY. 

Wendell Phillips, "the silver-tongued orator of America," and anti- 
slavery reformer. Born in Boston, Mass., November 29, 1811; 
died, February 2, 1884. 

The Carpathian Mountains may shelter tyrants. The 
slopes of Germany may bear up a race more familiar with 
the Greek text than the Greek phalanx. For aught I know, 
the wave of Russian rule may sweep so far westward as to 
fill once more with miniature despots the robber castles of 
the Rhine. But of this I am sure: God piled the Rocky 
Mountains as the ramparts of freedom. He scooped the 
Valley of the Mississippi as the cradle of free States. He 
poured Niagara as the anthem of free men. 



THE SHIP COLUMBIA. 

Edward G. Porter. In an article entitled " The Ship Columbia and 
the Discovery of Oregon," in the New England Magazine, June, 
1892. 
Few ships, if any, in our merchant marine, since the organ- 



COLUMBIA. 371 

ization of the republic, have acquired such distinction as 
the Columbia. 

By two noteworthy achievements, loo years ago, she 
attracted the attention of the commercial world and ren- 
dered a service to the United States unparalleled in our 
history. She was the first American vessel to carry the stars 
and stripes around the globe; and, by her discovery of " the 
great river of the West," to which her name was given, she 
furnished us with the title to our possessioji of that magnificent 
domain which to-day is represented by the flourishing 
young States of Oregon, Washington, and Idaho. 

The famous ship was well-known and much talked about 
at the time, but her records have mostly disappeared, and 
there is very little knowledge at present concerning her. 



Columbia's emblem. 
Edna Dean Proctor. In September Ceftluf 

The rose may bloom for England, 

The lily for France unfold; 
Ireland may honor the shamrock, 

Scotland her thistle bold; 
But the shield of the great Republic, 

The glory of the West, 
Shall bear a stalk of the tasseled corn — ■ 

Of all our wealth the best. 
The arbutus and the golden-rod 

The heart of the North may cheer; 
And the mountain laurel for Maryland 

Its royal clusters rear; 
And jasmine and magnolia 

The crest of the South adorn; 
But the wide Republic's emblem 

Is the bounteous, golden corn! 



372 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

EAST AND WEST. 

Thomas Buchanan Read, a distinguished American artist and poet. 
Born in Cliester County, Pennsylvania, 1822; died in New York, 
May II, 1872. From his "Emigrant's Song." 

Leave the tears to the maiden, the fears to the child, 
While the future stands beckoning afar in the wild; 
For there Freedom, more fair, walks the primeval land. 
Where the wild deer all court the caress of her hand. 
There the deep forests fall, and the old shadows fly. 
And the palace and temple leap into the sky. 
Oh, the East holds no place where the onward can rest. 
And alone there is room in the land of the West! 



THE PRIMITIVE PITCH. 

The Rev. Myron W. Reed, a distinguished American clergyman of 
Denver, Colo. From an address delivered in 1892. 

The best thing we can do for the world is to take care of 
America. Keep our country up to the primitive pitch. In 
front of my old home, in another city, is the largest elm in 
the county. It never talked, it never went about doing 
good. It stood there and made shade for an acre of chil- 
dren, and a shelter for all the birds that came. It stood 
there and preached strength in the air by wide-flung 
branches, and strength in the earth by as many and as 
long roots as limbs. It stood, one fearful night, the charge 
of a cyclone, and was serene in the March morning. It 
proclaimed what an elm could be. It set tree-planters to 
planting elms. So America preaches, man capable of self- 
government; preaches over the sea, a republic is safer than 
any kingdom. Men have outgrown kings. We shall 
remember Walt Whitman, if only for a line, ''O America! 
we build for you because you build for the world." 



COLUMBIA. 373 

MORAL PROGRESS. 

William Henry Seward, an eminent American statesman. Born at 
Florida, Orange County, N. Y., May i6, iSoi; died at Auburn, 
N. Y., October lo, 1872. 

A kind of reverence is paid by all nations to antiquity. 
There is no one that does not trace its lineage from the 
gods, or from those who were especially favored by the 
gods. Every people has had its age of gold, or Augustine 
age, or historic age — an age, alas! forever passed. These 
prejudices are not altogether unwholesome. Although 
they produce a conviction of declining virtue, which is 
unfavorable to generous emulation, yet a people at once 
ignorant and irreverential would necessarily become licen- 
tious. Nevertheless, such prejudices ought to be modified. 
It is untrue that in the period of a nation's rise from disor- 
der to refinement it is not able to continually surpass itself. 
We see Xho. present, plainly, distinctly, with all its coarse out- 
lines, its rough inequalities, its dark blots, and its glaring 
deformities. We hear all its tumultuous sounds and jar- 
ring discords. We see and hear the /iZJ'/ through a distance 
which reduces all its inequalities to a plane, mellows all its 
shades into a pleasing hue, and subdues even its hoarsest 
voices into harmony. In our own case, the prejudice is less 
erroneous than in most others. The Revolutionary age was 
truly a heroic one. Its exigencies called forth the genius, 
and the talents, and the virtues of society, and they ripened 
amid the hardships of a long and severe trial. But there 
were selfishness and vice and factions then as now, 
although comparatively subdued and repressed. You have 
only to consult impartial history to learn that neither 
public faith, nor public loyalty, nor private virtue, culmin- 
ated at that period in our own country; while a mere glance 
at the literature, or at the stage, or at the politics of any 
European country, in any previous age, reveals the fact 



374 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

that it was marked, more distinctly than the present, by 
licentious morals and mean ambition. It is only just to 
infer in favor of the United States an improvement of morals 
from their established progress in knowledge and power; 
otherwise, the philosophy of society is misunderstood, and 
we must change all our courses, and henceforth seek safety 
in imbecility, and virtue in superstition and ignorance. 



A PROPHETIC UTTERANCE OF COLONIAL DAYS. 

Samuel Sewell. Born at Bishopstoke, Hampshire, England, March, 
1652. Died at Boston, Mass., January, 1730. 

Lift up your heads, O ye Gates of Columbia, and be ye 
lift up, ye Everlasting Doors, and the King of Glory shall 
come in. 



NATIONAL INFLUENCE. 

Joseph Story, a distinguished American jurist. Born in Marblehead, 
Mass., September 18, 1779; died at Cambridge, Mass., Septem- 
ber 10, 1845. By permission of Messrs. Little, Brown & Co., 
Publishers. 

When we reflect on what has been, and is, how is it pos- 
sible not to feel a profound sense of the responsibilities of 
this Republic to all future ages? What vast motives press 
upon us for lofty efforts! What brilliant prospects invite our 
enthusiasm! What solemn warnings at once demand our 
vigilance and moderate our confidence! We stand, the 
latest, and, if we fail, probably the last, experiment of self- 
government by the people. We have begun it under cir- 
cumstances of the most auspicious nature. We are in the 
vigor of youth. Our growth has never been checked by 
the oppressions of tyranny. Our constitutions have never 
been enfeebled by the vices or luxuries of the Old World. 
Such as we are, we have been from the beginning — simple, 
hardy, intelligent, accustomed to self-government and self- 



COLUMBIA. 375 

respect. The Atlantic rolls between us and any formidable 
foe. Within our own territory, stretching through many 
degrees of latitude and longitude, we have the choice of 
many products and many means of independence. The 
government is mild. The press is free. Religion is free. 
Knowledge reaches, or may reach, every home. What 
fairer prospect of success could be presented? What 
means more adequate to accomplish the sublime end? 
What more is necessary than for the people to preserve 
what they themselves have created? Already has the age 
caught the spirit of our institutions. It has already 
ascended the Andes, and snuffed the breezes of both oceans. 
It has infused itself into the life-blood of Europe, and 
warmed the sunny plains of France and the lowlands of 
Holland. It has touched the philosophy of Germany and 
the north, and, moving to the south, has opened to Greece 
the lessons of her better days. 



AN ELECT NATION. 

William Stoughton. From an election sermon at Boston, Mass., 
April 29, 1669. 

God sifted a whole nation that he might send choice 
grain over into this wilderness. 



THE NAME "AMERICA. 

Moses F. Sweetser, an American litterateur. Born in Massachusetts, 
1848. From his " Handbook of the United States." 

The name America comes from amah-ic, or eimnerich, an 
old German word spread through Europe by the Goths, 
and softened in Latin to Americus, and in Italian to 
Amerigo. It was first applied to Brazil. Americus Ves- 
pucius, the son of a wealthy Florentine notary, made 
several voyages to the New World, a few years later than 



376 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

Columbus, and gave spirited accounts of his discoveries. 
About the year 1507, Hylacomylus, of the college at St. 
Die, in the Vosges Mountains, brought out a book on cos- 
mography, in vs^hich he said, " Now, truly, as these 
regions are more widely explored, and another fourth part 
is discovered, by Americus Vespucius, I see no reason why 
it should not be justly called Amerigen; that is, the land of 
Americus, or America, from Americus, its discoverer, a 
man of a subtle intellect." Hylacomylus invented the 
name America, and, as there was no other title for the 
New World, this came gradually into general use. It does 
not appear that Vespucius was a party to this almost acci- 
dental transaction, which has made him a monument of a 
hemisphere. 



THE COLUMBINE AS THE EXPOSITION FLOWER. 

T. T. Swinburne, the poet, has written to J. M. Samuels, chief of 
the Department of Horticulture at the World's Columbian Expo- 
sition, proposing the columbine as the Columbian Exposition 
and national flower. He gives as reasons: 

It is most appropriate in name, color, and form. Its 
name is suggestive of Columbia, and our country is often 
called by that name. Its botanical name, aqi/ilegia, is 
derived from aquila (eagle), on account of the spur of the 
petals resembling the talons, and the blade, the beak, of the 
eagle, our national bird. Its colors are red, white, and 
blue, our national colors. The corolla is divided into five 
points resembling the star used to represent our States on 
our flag; its form also represents the Phrygian cap of 
liberty, and it is an exact copy of the horn of plenty, the 
symbol of the Columbian Exposition. The flowers cluster 
around a central stem, as our States around the central 
ofovernment. 



COLUMBIA. 377 

THE SONG OF '76. 
Bayard Taylor, the distinguished American traveler, writer, and poet. 
Born in Chester County, Pennsylvania, in 1835; died at Berlin, 
December 19, 1S78. From his "Song of '76." By permission 
of Messrs. Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Publishers, Boston. 
Waken, voice of the land's devotion! 

Spirit of freedom, awaken all I 
Ring, ye shores, to the song of ocean, 
Rivers answer, and mountains call! 
The golden day has come; 
Let every tongue be dumb 
That sounded its malice or murmured its fears; 
She hath won her story; 
She wears her glory; 
We crown her the Land of a Hundred Years! 
Out of darkness and toil and danger 

Into the light of victory's day, 
Help to the weak, and home to the stranger, 
Freedom to all, she hath held her way! 
Now Europe's orphans rest 
Upon her mother-breast. 
The voices of nations are heard in the cheers 
That shall cast upon her 
New love and honor, 
And crown her the Queen of a Hundred Years' 
North and South, we are met as brothers; 

East and West, we are wedded as one; 
Right of each shall secure our mother's; 
Child of each is her faithful son. 
We give thee heart and hand. 
Our glorious native land, 
For battle has tried thee, and time endears. 
We will write thy story, 
And keep thy glory 
As pure as of old for a Thousand Years! 



378 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

MAN SUPERIOR. 

Henry David Thoreau, American author and naturalist. Born in 
Concord, Mass., 1817; died in 1862. From his "Excursions" 
(1863). By permission of Messrs. Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Pub- 
lishers, Boston. 

If the moon looks larger here than in Europe, probably 
•the sun looks larger also. If the heavens of America 
appear infinitely higher and the stars brighter, I trust that 
these facts are symbolical of the height to which the 
philosophy and poetry and religion of her inhabitants 
may one day soar. At length, perchance, the immaterial 
heaven will appear as much higher to the American mind, 
and the intimations that star it, as much brighter. For I 
believe that climate does thus react on man, as there is 
something in the mountain air that feeds the spirit and 
inspires. Will not man grow to greater perfection intellectu- 
ally as well as physically under these influences? Or is it 
unimportant how many foggy days there are in his life? I 
trust that we shall be more imaginative, that our thoughts 
will be clearer, fresher, and more ethereal, as our sky; our 
understanding more comprehensive and broader, like our 
plains; our intellect generally on a grander scale, like our 
thunder and lightning, our rivers, and mountains, and 
forests, and our hearts shall even correspond in breadth 
and depth and grandeur to our inland seas. Else to what 
end does the world go on, and why was America dis- 
covered? 



AMERICAN SCENERY. 

William Tudor, an American litterateur. Born at Boston in 1779; 
died, 1S30. 

Our numerous waterfalls and the enchanting beauty of 
our lakes afford many objects of the most picturesque 



COLUMBIA. 379 

character; while the inland seas, from Superior to Ontario, 
and that astounding cataract, whose roar would hardly be 
increased by the united murmurs of all the cascades of 
Europe, are calculated to inspire vast and sublime con- 
ceptions. The effects, too, of our climate, composed of a 
Siberian winter and an Italian summer, furnish new and 
peculiar objects for description. The circumstances of 
remote regions are here blended, and strikingly opposite 
appearances witnessed, in the same spot, at different se-a- 
sons of the year. In our winters, we have the sun at the 
same altitude as in Italy, shining on an unlimited surface 
of snow, which can only be found in the higher latitudes of 
Europe, where the sun, in the winter, rises little above the 
horizon. The dazzling brilliancy of a winter's day and a 
moonlight night, in an atmosphere astonishingly clear and 
frosty, when the utmost splendor of the sky is reflected 
from a surface of spotless white, attended with the most 
excessive cold, is peculiar to the northern part of the 
United States. What, too, can surpass the celestial purity 
and transparency of the atmosphere in a fine autumnal day, 
when our vision and our thought seem carried to the third 
heaven; the gorgeous magnificence of the close, when the 
sun sinks from our view, surrounded with various masses 
of clouds, fringed with gold and purple, and reflecting, in 
evanescent tints, all the hues of the rainbow. 



LIBERTY HAS A CONTINENT OF HER OWN. 

Horace Walpole, fourth Earl of Oxford, a famous Engflish literary 
gossip, amateur, and wit. Born in London, October, 1717; died, 
March, 1797. 

Liberty has still a continent to exist in. 



380 COLU.MUUS AND C\)1.U.MB1A. 



LOVE OF AMERICA. 



Damel Webster, the celebrated American statesman, jurist, and orator. 
Born at Salisbury, N. H., January i8 17S2; died at Marshtield, 
Mass., October 24, 1852. 

I profess to feel a strong attachment to the liberty of the 
United States; to the constitution and free institutions of 
the United States; to the honor, and I may say the glory, 
of this great Government and great country. 

I feel every injury inflicted upon this country almost as 
a personal injury. I blush for every fault which I think I 
see committed in its public councils as if they were faults 
or mistakes of my own. 

I know that, at this moment, there is no object upon 
earth so attracting the gaze of the intelligent and civilized 
nations of the earth as this great Republic. All men look 
at us, all men examine our course, all good men are anxious 
for a favorable result to this great experiment of repub- 
lican liberty. We are on a hill and can not be hid. We 
can not withdraw ourselves either from the commendation 
or the reproaches of the civilized world. They see us as 
that star of empire which, half a century ago, was predicted 
as making its way westward. I wish they may see it as a 
mild, placid, though brilliant orb, making its way athwart 
the whole heavens, to the enlightening and cheering of 
mankind; and not a meteor of fire and blood, terrifying 
the nations. 



GENIUS OF THE WEST. 

John Greenleaf Whittier, the distinguished American poet. Born 
at Haverhill, Mass , December 17, 1807. From his poem, "On 
receiving an eagle's quill from Lake Superior." By permission of 
Messrs. Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Publishers, Boston. 

I hear the tread of pioneers. 
Of nations yet to be; 



COLUMBIA. 381 

The first low wash of waves, where; soon 
Shall roll a human sea. 

The rudiments of empire here 

Are plastic yet and warm; 
The chaos of a mighty world 

Is rounding into form. 

Each rude and jostling fragment soon 

Its fitting place shall find — 
The raw material of a state, 

Its muscle and its mind. 

And, westering still, the star which leads 

The New World in its train 
Has tipped with fire the icy spears 

Of many a mountain chain. 

The snowy cones of Oregon 

Are kindling on its way; 
And California's golden sands 

Gleam brighter in its ray. 



GOD SAVE AMERICA. 

Robert C. Winthrop, an American statesman and orator. Born in 
Boston, Mass., May 12, 1809. From his " Centennial Oration," 
delivered in Boston, 1876. 

Instruments and wheels of the invisible governor of the 
universe! This is indeed all which the greatest men ever 
have been, or ever can be. No flatteries of courtiers, no 
adulations of the multitude, no audacity of self-reliance, no 
intoxications of success, no evolutions or developments of 
science, can make more or other of them. This is "the 
sea-mark of their utmost sail," the goal of their farthest 
run, the very round and top of their highest soaring. Oh, 
if there could be to-day a deeper and more pervading 



382 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

impression of this great truth throughout our land, and a 
more prevailing conformity of our thoughts and words 
and acts to the lessons which it involves; if we could lift 
ourselves to a loftier sense of our relations to the invisible; 
if, in surveying our past history, we could catch larger 
and more exalted views of our destinies and our responsibil- 
ities; if we could realize that the want of good, men may 
be a heavier woe to a land than any want of what the world 
calls great men, our centennial year would not only be 
signalized by splendid ceremonials, and magnificent com- 
memorations, and gorgeous expositions, but it would go far 
toward fulfilling something of the grandeur of that 
"acceptable year," which was announced by higher than 
human lips, and would be the auspicious promise and pledge 
of a glorious second century of independence and freedom 
for our country. For, if that second century of self-govern- 
ment is to go on safely to its close, or is to go on safely 
and prosperously at all, there must be some renewal of that 
old spirit of subordination and obedience to divine, as well 
as human, laws, which has been our security in the past. 
There must be faith in something higher and better than 
ourselves. There must be a reverent acknowledgment of 
an unseen, but all-seeing, all-controlling Ruler of the Uni- 
verse. His word. His house, His day, His worship, must be 
sacred to our children, as they have been to their fathers; 
and His blessing must never fail to be invoked upon our 
land and upon our liberties. The patriot voice, which cried 
from the balcony of yonder old State House, when the 
declaration had been originally proclaimed, " stability and 
perpetuity to American independence," did not fail to add, 
" God save our American States." I would prolong that 
ancestral prayer. And the last phrase to pass my lips at 
this hour, and to take its chance for remembrance or 
oblivion in years to come, as the conclusion of this centen- 



COLUMBIA. 383 



nial oration, and as the sum and summing up of all I can 
say to the present or the future, shall be: There is, there 
can be, no independence of God; in Him, as a nation, no 
less than in Him, as individuals, "we live, and move, and 
have our being! " God save our American States! 



A voice of warning. 

From " Things that Threaten the Destruction of American Institutions," 
a sermon by T. De Witt Talmage, delivered in Brooklyn Tab- 
ernacle, October 12, 1884. 

What! can a nation die? Yes; there has been great mor- 
tality among monarchies and republics. Like individuals, 
they are born, have a middle life and a decease, a cradle 
and a grave. Sometimes they are assassinated and some- 
times they suicide. Call the roll, and let some one answer 
for them. Egyptian civilization, stand up! Dead, answer 
the ruins of Karnak and Luxor. Dead, respond in chorus 
the seventy pyramids on the east side the Nile. Assyrian 
Empire, stand up! Dead, answer the charred ruins of Nin- 
eveh. After 600 years of opportunity, dead. Israelitish 
Kingdom, stand up! After 250 years of miraculous vicissi- 
tude, and Divine intervention, and heroic achievement, and 
appalling depravity, dead. Phoenicia, stand up! After 
inventing the alphabet and giving it to the world, and send- 
ing out her merchant caravans to Central Asia in one 
direction, and her navigators into the Atlantic Ocean in 
another direction, and 500 years of prosperity, dead. 
Dead, answer the " Pillars of Hercules " and the rocks on 
which the Tyrian fishermen spread their nets. Athens — 
after Phidias, after Demosthenes, after Miltiades, after 
Marathon — dead. Sparta — after Leonidas, after Eury- 
biades, after Salamis, after Thermopylae — dead. 

Roman Empire, stand up and answer to the roll-call! 
Once bounded on the north by the British Channel and on 



384 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 

the south by the Sahara Desert of Africa, on the east by 
the Euphrates and on the west by the Atlantic Ocean. 
Home of three civilizations. Owning all the then discov- 
ered world that was worth owning. Gibbon, in his " Rise 
and Fall of the Roman Empire," answers, "Dead." And 
the vacated seats of the ruined Coliseum, and the skeletons 
of the aqueduct, and the miasma of the Campagna, and the 
fragments of the marble baths, and the useless piers of the 
bridge Triumphalis, and the silenced forum, and the Mam- 
ertine dungeon, holding no more apostolic prisoners; and 
the arch of Titus, and Basilica of Constantine, and the Pan- 
theon, lift up a nightly chorus of '' Dead! dead! " Dead, 
after Horace, and Virgil, and Tacitus, and Livy, and 
Cicero; after Horatius of the bridge, and Cincinnatus, the 
farmer oligarch; after Scipio, and Cassius, and Constantine, 
and Caesar. Her war-eagle, blinded by flying too near the 
sun, came reeling down through the heavens, and the owl 
of desolation and darkness made its nest in the forsakt-n 
aerie. Mexican Empire, dead! French Empire, dead! 
You see it is no unusual thing for a government to perish. 
And in the same necrology of nations, and in the same 
cemetery of e.xpired governments, will go the United States 
of America unless some potent voice shall call a halt, and 
through Divine interposition, by a purified ballot-box and 
an all-pervading moral Christian sentiment, the present 
evil tendency be stopped. 



INDEX OF AUTHORS. 



COLUMBUS. 



Adams, John 6i 

Alden, William Livingston 6i 

Anderson, John J .64 

Anonymous 61-64 

Anthony, The Hon. Elliott 64 

Augustine, Saint 68 



Baillie, Joanna 69 

Ballou, Maturin Murray 72 

Baltimore American, The 73 

Bancroft, George 70 

Bancroft, Hubert Howe 80 

Baring-Gould, The Rev. Sabine 84 

Barlow, Joel 86 

^arry, J. J., M. D 88 

Benzoni , Geronimo 89 

Berkeley, The Right Rev. 

George _ . go 

Blaine, The Hon. J. G 90 

Bonnafoux, Baron 90 

Boston Journal, The.. 91 

Brobst, Flavius J 03 

Bryant, William C. 93 

Buel,J. W ...■;o4 

Burroughs, John - - -94 

Burton, Richard E 05 

Butterworth, Hezekiah 95 

Byron, George Gordon Noel, 

Lord 

26 



-97 



(385) 



Cabot, Sebastian 97 

Capitulations of Santa F6 98 

Carlyle, Thomas 99. 

Carman, Bliss 100 

Carpio, Lope de Vega 100 

Castelar, Emilio 292 

Chapin, E. H yo\ 

Chicago Inter Ocean 

Chicago Tribune, The 92-101 

Cladera ... 5, 

Clarke, Hyde 106 

Clarke, James Freeman 106 

Clemencin, Diego 107 

Coleman, James David 107 

Collyer, Robert 108 

Columbus of Literature 109 

Columbus of the Heavens no 

Columbus of Modern Times.. no 

Columbus of the Skies no 

Columbus, Hernando 1 10 

Columbus, The Mantle of . . .113 

Cornwallis, Kinahan in 

Curtis, William Eleroy 113 

D 

Dati, Giulio 115 

Delavigne, Jean Frangois Casi- 

mir ns 

De Costa, Rev. Dr. B. F 116 

Depew, Chauncey M. 117 



386 



INDEX OF AUTHORS — COLUMBUS. 



De Vere, Aubrey Thomas 117 

Draper, John William. 120 

Durier, Right Rev. Anthony.. 120 
Dutto, L. A. 124 

E 

Eden, Charles Henry 125 

Edrisi, Xerif Al 127 

Egan, Prof. Maurice Francis. .127 

Elliott, Samuel R 128 

Emerson, Ralph Waldo 128 

Everett, Edward.- 129 

F 

Farrar, The Venerable Freder- 
ick William, D. D 131 

Fiske, John 132 

Fothergill, John Milner, M. D. 134 

Foster, John -. -.135 

Freeman, Edward Augustus. -I35 
Friday 136 

G 

Gaffarel, Paul 138 

Galiani, The Abbe Fernando.. 139 
Geikie, The Rev. Cunningham, 

D. D - 139 

Gibbons, The Right Rev. 

James, D. D 145 

Gibson, William L45 

Glasgow Times 146 

Goodrich, F. B 149 

Guizot, Fran9ois Pierre Guil- 

laume - 149 

Gunsaulus, Rev. F. W., D. D. 150 
Guyot, Arnold Henry, Ph. D., 

LL. D ...-151 

H 

Hale, Edward Everett, D. D. .151 



Page 

Halleck, Fitz-Greene 153 

Halstead, Murat 153 

Harding, Edward J 155 

Hardouin, Jean .- 159 

Harrison , Benjamin 159 

Harrisse, Henrj' 160 

Hartley, David ..162 

Hegel, Georg Wilhelm Fried- 
rich 163 

Heine, Heinrich 162 

Helps, Sir Arthur 164 

Herbert, George 164 

Herrera, Antonio y Tordesillas. 165 

Herrera, Fernando 165 

Hodgin, C. W 165 

Humboldt, Friedrich Heinrich 

Alexander, Baron von 166 

Hurst. The Right Rev. John 
Fletcher, D. D., LL. D..167 

I 

Irving, Washington 168 

Italian 182 

J 

Janssens, Archbishop .203 

Jefferson, Samuel 182 

Johnston, Annie Fellows 183 

K 

Kennedy, John S -.184 

King, Moses 184 

Knight, Arthur G. - 185 

L 

Lactantius, Lucius 185 

Lamartine, Alphonse .187 

Lanier, Sidney 189 

Lawrence, Eugene .-I92 

Leo XIII. , Pope --193. 194 



INDEX OF AUTHORS — COLUMBUS. 



387 



Page 

Lofft, Capel 201 

Lord, Rev. John 202 

Lorgues, Rossely de 203 

Lowell, James Russell 64, 204 

Lytton, Lord 291 

M 

Macaulay, Thomas Babbington 206 

Mackie, C. P ,207 

Magnusen, Finn 208 

Major, R. H 209 

Malte-Brun, Conrad 210 

Margesson, Helen P 210 

Markham, Clements Robert.. 211 

Martyr, Peter... 231 

Mason, William 232 

Matthews, J. N 232 

Medina-Celi, The Duke of ...233 

Miller, Joaquin 235 

Montgomery, D. H .237 

Morgan, Gen. Thomas J 237 

Morris, Charles 238 

N 

Nason, Emma Huntington. -.238 
New Orleans Morjiing Star... 24,0 

New York Herald 25 1 

New York Tribune 253 

Nugent, Father 254 



Palos, The Alcalde of 255 

Pan-American Tribute 255 

Parker, Theodore.. 256 

Parker, Capt. W. H 256 

Perry, Horatio J 257 

Peschel,0. F -'.'.'."."! 260 

Petrarch, F 266 

Phillips, Barnet 261 



Page 

Pollok, R 261 

Poole, W. F.,LL. D .261 

Prescott, W. H 265 

Pulci, Luigi 267 



Quackenbos, G. P 268 



Read, Thomas Buchanan 

Reed, Myron 268 

Rhode Island, World's Fair... 269 
Redpath, John Clark, LL. D..270 

Riafio, Juan F ..271 

Robertson, William 272 

Rogers, Samuel 63, 275 

Russell, William '.277 



Santarem, Manoel Francisco de 
Barros y Souza, Viscount. 279 

Saturday Review 284 

Saunders, R. N 287 

Savage, MinotJ 28S 



.289 



Seneca 

Schiller, Johann Christoph 

Friedrich ...292 

Shipley, Mrs. John B 292 

Sigourney (Lydia Huntley), 

Mrs 293 

Smiles, Samuel _.. 294 

Smithey, Royal! Bascom 295 

Sumner, Charles 297 

Swing, Prof. David 298 

T 

Tasso, Torquato 300 

Taylor, Bayard 300 

Taylor, Rev. George L 300 



388 



INDEX OF AUTHORS — COLUMBUS. 



Page 

Tennyson, Lord Alfred 301 

Tercentenary 302 

Thompson, Maurice 304 

Thoreau, Henry D 304 

Toscanelli, Paolo 305 

Townsend, G. A 305 

Townsend, L. T., D. D. 308 

Trivigiano, Angelo 309 

V 
Van der Weyde, Dr. P. H. -..309 
Ventura, Padre Gioacchino 310 



W 

Page 

Waddington, The Venerable 
George, Dean of Durham .3 10 

Watts, Theodore 312 

Whipple, Edwin Percy 315 

White, Daniel Appleton 315 

Wiffen, Jeremiah Holmes 316 

Willard, Emma Hart - 317 

Winchester, The Rev. Elhanan .317 

Winsor, Justin 321 

Woodberry, George E 321 

Worcester, Joseph Emerson — 321 



INDEX OF AUTHORS. 



COLUMBIA. 



Adams, John 327 

Agassiz, Louis Jean Rodolphe-327 

Aldrich, T. B. -- 327 

Anonymous 329 

Arnold, Sir Edwin 329 



B 



Beecher, Henry Ward 330 

Beman, Nathaniel S. S 331 

Best, St. George 333 

Brackenridge, Henry Hugh — 333 
Bright, The Right Hon. John, 

M. P -- 334 

Browning, EHzabeth Barrett.. 334 

Bryant, William CuUen 335 

Bryce, James, M. P 536 

Burke, Edmund 337 



Castelar, Emilio 339 

Channing, William Ellery 339 

Chicago Inter Oceatt. 341 

Choate, Rufus 341 

U. S. S. Columbia 344 

Cook, Eliza 347 

Cornwallis, Kinahan 347 

Cullom, The Hon. Shelby M..348 

Curtis, George William 349 

(389 



D 

Dana, Olive E 350 

Dwight, Timothy 351 

E 

Eddy, T. M 351 

Emerson, Ralph Waldo -.353 

Everett, Alexander Hill 353 

G 

Gannett, Ezra Stiles .354 

Garfield, James A 356 

Gladstone, The Right Hon. 

William Ewart 356 

Grady, Henry W 357 

H 

Harrison, Benjamin 359 

Head, Sir Francis Bond 360 

Henry, Patrick. 360 

Hillard, George Stillman 362 

Holmes, Oliver Wendell 363 

K 
King, The Rev. Thomas Starr. 364 

L 
Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth 366 

N 

N'orth British Review 366 

) 



390 



INDEX OF AUTHORS — COLUMBIA. 



o 

Page 
Otis, James 368 

P 

Paine, Prof. J. K 368 

Phillips, Charles 369 

Phillips, Wendell 370 

Porter, Edward G 370 

Proctor, Edna Dean 371 

R 

Read, Thos. Buchanan --372 

Reed, The Rev. Myron W 372 

S 

Seward, William Henry 373 

Sewell, Samuel 374 



Page 

Storey, Joseph 374 

Stoughton, William 375 

Sweetser, Moses F .375 

Swinburne, T. T 376 

T 

Talmage, The Rev. T. Dewitt 3S3 

Taylor, Bayard 377 

Thoreau, Henry David -378 

Tudor, William 378 

W 

Walpole, Horace 379 

Webster, Daniel 380 

Whittier, John Greenleaf 380 

Winthrop, Robert C. 381 



INDEX OF HEAD LINES. 



A 

Page 

Admiral of Mosquito Land — 237 
Admiration of a Careful Critic. 160 
All within the Ken of Colum- 
bus 106 

America — Opportunity .353 

The Continent of the 

Future 339 

The Old World 327 

Flag.. 330 

Futurity 327 

Idea 348 

National Haste .336 

Nationality 341 

Scenery 378 

Unprecedented Growth. 33 7 

Welcome 360 

Ancient Anchors 61 

An Appropriate Hour 135 

Arma Virumque Cano 168 

At Palos 284 

Atlantic and Pacific 356 

Attendant Fame Shall Bless... 3 10 

B 

Barcelona Statue 81 

Bartolomeo Columbus 124 

Beauties of the Bahama Sea 95 

Belief of Columbus 164 

Bible 308 

Boston Statue. 93, 280 

Bright's Beatific Vision. 334 

Brilliants from Depew 117 



Bronze Door at Washington.. 272 

Brothers across the Sea 334 

By Faith . Columbus found 

America 108 

By the Grace of God He Was 

What He Was 203 



Cabot's Contemporaneous Ut- 
terance - 97 

Capitulations of Santa Fe 98 

Captain and Seamen 95 

Care of the New World 162 

Cause of the Discovery 184 

Celebration at Hamburg 154 

Center of Civilization 356 

Children of the Sun 272 

Christopher, the Christ-Bearer. 268 
Circular Letter, Archbishop of 

New Orleans 241 

Claim of the Norsemen 266 

Columba Christum - Ferens — 

What's in a Name 240 

Columbian Chorus 368 

Columbia, Columbus' Monu- 
ment 347 

Columbia's Emblem 371 

Columbian Festival Allegory.. 250 

Columbia — A Prophecy 333 

Columbia, Queen of the World. 351 
Columbia's Unguarded Gates.. 327 
Columbine as the Exposition 

Flower 376 

(391) 



392 



INDEX OF HEAD LINES. 



Page 
Columbus 73, 312 

Aim not Merely Secular. 163 

Bank note 80 

Bell 89 

Boldest Navigator 256 

Certain Convictions of. . 90 

Chains — His Crown 87 

Character of 265 

The Civilizer -187 

Collection 112 

The Conqueror 69 

And the Convent of La 

Rabida 62 

And Copernicus 210 

Dared the Main 63 

Day 159, 268-269 

And the Egg 309 

The First Discoverer 166 

And the Fourth Cente- 
nary of His Discov- 
ery 211 

The Fulfiller of Proph- 
ecy 79 

A Giant... 167 

Glory of Catholicism 194 

Haven 112 

Heard of Norse Discov- 
eries -2IO 

Of the Heavens .110 

Of the Heaven s — 

Scorned 130 

A Heretic and a Vision- 
ary to His Contem- 
poraries 106 

An Ideal Commander.. 86 

And the Indians 237 

King of Discoverers 205 

Of Literature 109 

The Mariner 80 



Page 

Columbus a Martyr 294 

Of Modern Times.. 91, no 
Neither a Visionary nor 

an Imbecile 207 

No Chance Comer 90 

Lord North's^e/^A'(?z;-.3i5 
Pathfinder of the Shad- 
owy Sea 88 

Patron Saint of Real- 
Estate Dealers 257 

Statue in Chicago 118 

Statue, The City of 

Colon 108 

Statue in Madrid 208 

Statue, City of Mexico. 234 

Statue, New York 243 

A Contemporary Italian 

Tribute 115 

Critical Days. 134 

Cuba's Caves 113 

A Voluminous Writer. .261 

At Salamanca 170, 293 

The Sea-King 99 

Of the Skies no 

Stamps 263 

Supreme Suspense of 304 

A Theoretical Circum- 
navigator 270 

D 

Dark Ages before Columbus.. 68 

Darkness before Discovery 297 

Death was Columbus' Friend. 260 

De Mortuis, nil nisi Bonum 321 

Dense Ignorance of Those Days 238 

Design for Souvenir Coins 296 

Difficulties by the Way 295 

Discoveries of Columbus and 
Americus .101 



INDEX OF HEAD LINES. 



393 



Page 
A Discovery Greater than the 

Labors of Hercules .231 

Doubts of Columbus 29S 

Dream 120 

E 

Each the Columbus of his own 

Soul 63 

Eager to Share the Reward 233 

Earnestness of Columbus 62 

Earth's Rotundity 254 

East and West 372 

East longed for the West 152 

Effect of the Discovery 165 

Elect Nation 375 

Error of Columbus 299 

Example of Columbus 69 

Excitement at the News of the 
Discovery 132 

F 

Fame 131 

Fate of Discoverers .-322 

Felipa, Wife of Columbus 1S3 

Final Stage 333 

First American Monument to 

Columbus 347 

Catholic Knight 107 

Glimpse of Land 125 

To Greet Columbus 238 

Fleet of Columbus 112 

Flight of Parrots was his Guid- 
ing Star. 167 

Friday 136 

From the Italian 182 

G 

Genoa 153-277 

Genoa Inscription, The 140 

Genoa Statue, The 140, 280 



Page 
Genoa — whence Grand Colum- 
bus Came 117 

Genius Travels East to West. .139 

Genius of the West.-- 380 

Genius Traveled Westward -232 

Geography of the Ancients 64 

Germany and Columbus 144 

Germany's Exhibit of Rarities 144 

Gift of Spain 256 

Glory to God 300 

God Save America 381 

Grand Prophetic Vision 317 

Grand Scope of the Celebration 341 

Grandeur of Destiny. — 335 

Gratitude and Pride 359 

Great West 304 

Greatest Achievement 321 

Greatest Continuous Empire.. 356 

Greatest Event 298 

Greatness of Columbus - 61 

H 

Hands across the Sea 255 

Hardy Mariners Have become 

Great Heroes 315 

Herschel, the Columbus of the 

Skies loi 

Hidden World 350 

His Life Was a Path of Thorns 261 
Honor the Hardy Norsemen. . 116 
Honor to Whom Honor is Due 279 

I 

Ideas of the Ancients 185 

Important Find of MMS 271 

Impregnable Will of Columbus 204 

Incident of the Voyage . . 165 

Increasing Interest in Colum- 
bus. - 184 



394 



INDEX OF HEAD LINES. 



Page 
Indomitable Course of Colum- 
bus . 93 

In Honor of Columbus 203 

Intense Uncertainty 238 

Italian Statue (Baltimore) 78 

J 
Jesuit Geographer 159 

K 

Knowledge of Icelandic Voy- 
ages 300 

L 

Lake Front Park Statue of 

Columbus 185 

Land of Liberty 370 

Last Days of the Voyage ..269 

Launched out into the Deep. .277 

Legend of Columbus 69 

Legend of a Western Island.. 85 

Legend of a Western Land 84 

Liberty Has a Continent of her 

Own 379 

Life for Liberty- 153 

Like Homer, a Beggar in the 

Gate ... 106 

Love of America 380 

Love of Country 343 

M 

Magnanimity 185 

Man of the Church 310 

Man's Ingratitude 86 

Man Superior 378 

Majesty of Grand Recollections 167 

Mecca of the Nation 184 

Memorial Arch, New York 247 

Memorial to Columbus at Old 
Isabella 171 



Page 

Mission and Reward 232 

Moral Progress 373 

Morning Triumphant 150 

Mutiny at Sea... "--I15, 257 

Mystery of the Shadowy Sea.. 127 

N 

Name America 375 

National Heritage 364 

National Influence --374 

National Self-respect 331 

Nature Superior 360 

Navigator and the Islands 72 

New Life 151 

New Light on Christopher 

Columbus 146 

New York Statue - 281 

Noah and Columbus 317 

Nobility of Columbus in Adver- 
sity 88 

Noble Conceptions 339 

Norsemen's Claim to Priority. .292 

O 

Observation like Columbus 139 

On a Portrait of Columbus 321 

Once the Pillars of Hercules 

Were the End of the World 145 
One Vast Western Continent. 329 
On Freedom's Generous Soil -.363 
Only the Actions of the Just.. 86 

Onward! Press On!. 291 

Our Great Trust 362 

Out-bound 100 

P 

Palos 127 

Palos to Barcelona — His Tri- 
umph 261 



INDEX OF HEAD LINES 



395 



Page 

Palos— the Departure 70 

Palos Statue 281 

Pan-American Tribute 255 

Passion for Gold-. 192 

Patience of Columbus 205 

Patriotism Defined 351 

Penetration and Extreme Accur- 
acy of Columbus, The 166 

Pen Picture from the South, A. 121 

Period, The 149 

Personal Appearance of Colum- 
bus, The 89, no, 165 

Petrarch's Tribute 260 

Philadelphia Statue 281 

Pleading with Kings for a New 

World 268 

Pope Reviews the Life of the 

Discoverer, The - 194 

Portraits of Columbus, The. -.113 

Practical and Poetical 169 

Previous Discovery .138 

Primitive Pitch 372 

Prophetic Utterance of Colon- 
ial Days 374 

Visions Urged Colum- 
bus On - 87 

Protest against Ignorance, A.. 253 

Psalm of the West 189 

Pulci's Prophecy 267 

Q 

Queen Isabella's Death 87 

R 

Range of Enterprise 135 

Reason for Sailors' Supersti- 
tions, The 145 

Reasoning of Columbus, The.iaS 
Religion 176 



Page 
Religion Turns to Freedom's 
Land 164 

Religious Object of Columbus. 88 
Reminiscence of Columbus, A. 287 

Responsibility .354 

Reverence and Wonder 61 

Ridicule with which the Views 

of Columbus were Received 64 
Rising of the Western Star... 329 
Route to the Spice Indies 305 

S 

Sacramento Statuary 277 

Sagacity 128 

St. Louis Statue, The 279 

Salamanca Monument 278 

San Salvador or Watling's 

Island 162 

Santa Maria Caravel 94, 282 

Rabida, The Convent.. 275 

Santiago Bust 279 

Santo Domingoan Cannon 282 

Scarlet Thorn 94 

Searcher of the Ocean 182 

Secret 149 

Seeker and Seer 155 

Seneca's Prophecy -.289 

Sequel of the Discovery 353 

Seville Tomb . 289 

Ship Columbia 370 

Sifted Wheat-- 356 

Song of America, The in 

Song of '76 377 

Southern America's Tribute 280 

Sovereign of the Ascendant- . .369 
Spanish Fountain, New York. 249 

Speculation 164 

Standard of Modern Criticism, 
The - 114 



396 



INDEX OF HEAD LINES. 



Page 

Strange and Colossal Man 251 

Stranger than Fiction 128 

A Superior Soul 63 

Sympathy for Columbus 209 

T 

Tales of the East 252 

Tasso's Tribute (in English 

Spencerian Stanza) .316 

Tendency 151 

Tennyson's Tribute 301 

Tercentenary in New York 302 

Testimony of a Contemporary. 309 

Three Days 115 

To Spain 201 

The Track of Columbus 259 

The Tribute of Heinrich Heine 162 

Tribute of Joaquin Miller 235 

Tributes of the Phoenix of the 

Ages, The 100 

Tribute and Testimony of the 

Pope - - - 193 

Tribute of Tasso... 300 

Trifling Incident 131 

Triumph of an Idea 152 

Typical American 357 

U 

Undiscovered Country ..128 



Page 
Unwept, Unhonored, and Un- 
sung 261 

U. S. S. Columbia 344 

V 

Valparaiso Statue 309 

Vanderlyn's Picture 310 

Vespucci an Adventurer 206 

Vinland 133 

Visit of Columbus to Iceland -.208 

Visit to Palos- 1 70, 305 

Voice of the Sea, The 128 

Voice of Warning 383 

W 

Washington Statue 311 

Watling's Island Monument- .311 

West Indian Statues 312 

Westward Religion's Banners 

Took their Way 90 

When History Does Thee 

Wrong 97 

World a Seaman's Hand Con- 
ferred, The 64 

Wrapped in a Vision Glorious. 202 

Y 

You Can not Conquer America. 93 

Young America 349-353 

Youthful Land 368 



INDEX OF STATUARY AND 
INSCRIPTIONS. 



B 

Page 

Baltimore Monument . 73 

Baltimore Italian Statue 78 

Barcelona Statue - 81 

Boston, The lasagi Statue 92 

First Inspirations of Co- 
lumbus 280 

Replica of Isabella 
Statue 280 

C 

Cardenas (Cuba) Statue 312 

City of Colon Statue -108 

Chicago, Drake Fountain, Statue 

of Columbus 118 

(Lake Front) Statue 185 

G 

Genoa Inscription 140 

The Red Palace Statue. 280 
Statue 140 

H 

Havana Cathedral, Tomb 312 

Cathedral, Inscription -.313 

Statue. - - 313 

Bust 313 

I 
Isabella Statue 171 

L 
Lima (Peru) Statuarj'. 280 

M 

Madrid Statue 208 

Mexico City Statue... -234 

( 



N 

Page 

Nassau (Bahamas) Statue 314 

New York, Central Park Statue 281 

Italian Statue --243 

Memorial Arch 247 

Spanish Fountain 249 



Palos Statue 281 

Philadelphia Statue 281 

R 

Rogers Bronze Door, Wash- 
ington, D. C 273 



Sacramento, Cal. , Statuary in 

the Capitol 277 

Salamanca Monument 278 

Santiago (Chili) Bust 279 

Santo Domingo, Inscription and 

Tomb 38, 314 

Statue --315 

St. Louis (Mo.) Statue 279 

vSeville Tomb and I n s c r i p- 
tion - 36, 289 

V 

Valparaiso (Chili) Statue 309 

Vanderlyn's Picture at Wash- 
ington .310 

W 

Washington (D. C.) Statue:.. 311 
Watling's Island Monument 311 



397) 



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morocco, $1.50. 

Merze; The Story of an Actress. By Maeah Ellis Ryan. Typo- 
gravure Illustrations. Cloth and paper. 

My Uncle Barbassou By Mario Uchard. Illustrated. Paper and cloth. 

Jacob Valmont, Manager. By Geo. A. Wall and G. B. Heckel. Illus- 
trated. Cloth and paper. 

Herbert Severance. By M. French-Sheldon. 

Kings in Exile. By A. Daudet. Illustrated. Half morocco, $1.50. 

The Abbe Constantin. By LuDovio Halevy, with Thirty-six Illustra- 
tions by Madeleine Lemaire. Double number. Half morocco, gilt 
top, $2.00. 

Ned Staflford'8 Experiences in the United States. By Philip 
Mn.pORD. 

The New Prodigal. By Stephen Paul Sheffield. 

Fere Goriot. By Honore de Balzac. Half morocco, $1.50. 

A Strange Infatuation. By Lewis Harrison. Illustrated. Paper and cloth. 

Journal of Marie Bashkirtseff. Only unabridged edition published. 
Cloth, $2.00; half morocco, $3.50. 

Numa Roumestan. By A. Daudet. Illustrated. Half morocco, $1.50. 

Fabian Dimitry. By Edgar Pawcett. Paper and cloth. 

In Love's Domains. By Marah Ellis Ryan. 

Spirite. By Theophilk Gautier. Illustrated. Double number. Half 
morocco, gilt top, $2.00. 

The Romance of a Spahi. By Pierre Loti. Half morocco, $1.50. 

The Gladiators. By G. J. Whyte-Melville. Half morocco, $1.50. 

The Chouans. By Honore de Balzac. Illustrated. Half morocco, $1.50. 

Criquette. By Ludovic Halevy. Half morocco, $1.50. 

Told in the Hills. By Marah Ellis Ryan. 

A Modern Rosalind. By F. Xavier Calvert. 

A Fair American. By Pierre Sales. 

Fontenay, the Swordsman. By Fortune dc Boisgobby. 

The Sign-Board and other Stories. By Masson, Souvestre, Gautibb, 
Theuriet. 

A Pagan of the AUeghanies. By Makah Ellis Ryan. Half morocco, 
$1.50. 

For the Old Sake'" Sake. Bv Alan St. Aubyn. 

Into Morocco. Bi Pierre Loti. Illustrated. Half morocco, $1.50. 

The Light of Asia. By Sir Edwin Arnold. Cloth, $1.50. Half morocco, 
$2.50. 

Wolverton; or. The Modern Arena. By D. A. Reynolds. Cloth, $1.00. 

All for Jack. By Jules Cl^retie. 

Arctic Alaska -and Siberia; or. Eight Months with the Arctic 
Whalemon. By Herbert L. Aldrich. With thirty-four half tone 
process illastrations, from i>tiotographe taken by the author, and a correct 
map of t'je Whaling^rounds. Cloth, $1.00. 

Sarchedon, By G. J. Whyte-Melville. Half morocco, $1.50. 

Woe to t'.e Conquered. By Karl Berkow. Half morocco, $1.50. 

Squaw. TLlouise. By Marah Elli* Ryan. Half morocco, $1.50. 

''<AND, McNALLY & CO., Publishers, 

CHICAGO AND NEW YORK. 



MARAH ELLIS RYAN 

Issued in the Rialto Series. 50 Cents Each. 

FOR SALE BY ALL BOOKSELLERS. 



A PAGAN OF THE ALLEGHANIES. 

"A story of mountain life of remarkable interest." — Louis- 
Wille Times. 

"Full of exciting interest." — Toledo Blade. 
" A genuine art work." — Chicago Tribune. 

TOLD IN THE HILLS. 

"Beautifully pictured." — Chicago Times. 
"The word-painting is superb." — Loxoell Times. 
" One of the cleverest stories that has been issued in many a 
moon." — Kansas City Times. 

IN LOVE'S DOMAINS. 

A TRIIiOGY. 

"It is an entertaining book, and by no means an unprofitable, 
one." — Boston Times. 

" There are imagination and poetical expression in the stories, 
and readers will find them interesting." — New York Sun. 

" An unusually clever piece of work." — Cha/rleston News. 

JVIERZE; the Story of an Actress. 

Beautifully lUustrated. 

"We can not doubt that the author is one of the best living 
orators of her sex . The book will possess a strong attraction for 
women." — Chicago Herald. 

" This is the story of the life of an actress, toKl in the graphic 
style of Miss Ryan It is very interesting."- -JVe^c Orleans 
Picayune. 

"A book of decided literary merit, besides moral tone and 
vigor." — Public Opinion, Washington, D. C. 

" It is an exciting tragical story." — Chicago Inter Ocean. 



Rand, McNally & Co., Publisherc, 

CHICAGO AND NEW YORK. 



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